Where the Heart Is
by Aurora Ciel
Summary: AU She was the sweet, innocent daughter of the Headmaster. He was a rebel and a rule breaker. In hopes of leading him to a better path the two are forced to spend all their time together. The one thing no one ever expected out of it was love. [SasuSaku]
1. Transfer Student

**A/N: **Like I said in my profile, I couldn't stop thinking about this plot. Everything I see gives me inspiration for it. My head is going wild with ideas. Watching several high school romance movies didn't really help either…

So I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to work on this and _P&P_ and not forget about one… Wish me luck!

**Summary: **AU She was the quiet, sweet, goodie-two-shoes daughter of the Headmaster. He was a rebel and rule breaker- kicked out of his academy for numerous offences. It wasn't long before he stirred up trouble; in hopes of trying to "lead him on a better path"- or _punishment_ in his eyes- the two are forced to spend all of their free time together. The one thing neither of them expected to get out of the situation was love.

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Naruto nor the quote. The quote is by Thomas Mann, while I have no idea who he is, I completely love the quote.

**Warning: **Please take notice that this _is_ an M rated story for language, sexual content, fighting, and teen partying.

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

1. Transfer Student

---

_Otogakure_

A sleek, black Ferrari 360 Spider zoomed past trees and bushes, narrowly missing each piece of nature. It sloppily ziz-zagged back and forth down the old, dirt path.

As the speedometer raced closer and closer to 100, a beer can was chucked and hit a tree. The thrower of said can felt no remorse for dousing the leaves with beer, instead she giggled wildly.

"Whooo!" an eighteen year old girl shouted. She threw her hands up in the air, letting the wind race past them. Because the top of the convertible was rolled down, her dark hair was blowing nearly horizontally behind her.

She dug around the floor of her passenger seat, pulling out a half-empty bottle of vodka. She cheered again, unscrewing the top and tossing it to her left.

"Watch it, Karin," the driver snapped, his onyx eyes glancing at her for a mere two seconds.

The girl, Karin, merely shrugged, bringing the bottle to her lips. "Mmm raspberry! My favorite! You wanna taste, Sasuke-kun?"

The raven haired driver pushed the bottle away. Karin pouted in confusion, but then her glasses-clad eyes followed as Sasuke's left hand reached for something behind him. When his hand emerged, a bottle of tequila was in it. She giggled again, downing more of her own clear beverage.

"Sasuke-kun, where'd the others go?" Karin shouted over the noise of the wind and the roaring engine. She glanced behind her into the darkness, but saw only the outline of trees in the moonlight.

Sasuke shrugged. "They were behind us a minute ago. Maybe they ran into a tree." Karin howled with laughter, spilling vodka all over the seat.

"Damnit, Karin! I just got rid of the beer stains- now I have mother fuckin' vodka all over." Karin bit her lip, watching as Sasuke's brows furrowed. Then she couldn't keep in her giggle, seeing Sasuke start to smirk as well. "Hn. Oh well."

The Uchiha leaned over towards her, smashing their lips together. Their tongues swirled around each other messily. Each could taste the other's alcoholic beverage of choice. Karin moaned approvingly. She rested her hand on Sasuke's uppermost thigh, rubbing her thumb closer and closer to his crotch.

Sasuke groaned, but pulled away. The last thing he wanted to do was get his baby all dinged up.

And by 'baby', he meant the car.

He scowled as Karin pouted. "If I crash this Spider you're in fuckin' trouble." Karin sighed and nodded. She took another gulp of vodka, then started cheering again as Sasuke sped up.

Eventually, they ended up at a dead end. Sasuke parked the car and turned to Karin, his dark orbs filled with lust. She giggled, pulling off her glasses and setting them on the dashboard before moving over to straddle Sasuke. Karin made sure to sit directly on his manhood.

Sasuke groaned again, pulling Karin's mouth down to his. He unzipped her gray jacket and pushed it off, leaving her in a black bra, black shorts, and black thigh high boots. Karin grinded her heated core against Sasuke, and the two moaned at the friction. She hurriedly tugged off Sasuke's black jacket and shirt, running her hands up and down his abs.

As Sasuke reached to undo Karin's shorts, his cell phone rang. The two groaned, but then saw the name on the ID screen.

"What the hell happened to you?" Sasuke said in means of an answer. Karin leaned back so she was resting on the steering wheel, crossing her arms as she watched Sasuke.

"_Man, I fuckin' crashed into a fuckin' tree!" _the voice on the other end said. Karin arched a brow when she heard that. Then she rolled her eyes as the voice continued. She wanted Sasuke's attention. She pulled off her bra and began fondling her breasts, moaning loudly. Sasuke's eyes never left Karin's hands as she squeezed and rubbed her body.

"_Somebody heard and called the fucking police. Luckily the others caught up to me and we could clear out the car and ditch. They missed us, but they saw your little trail of beer cans. I think they're headed your way."_

"What?" Sasuke snapped loudly. "Son of a bitch."

Karin slid into the passenger seat, pulling her clothes back on.

"_Is Karin with you?"_

"Yeah."

"_Well you better get your asses out of there. And fast."_

"I know, I know. Fuck, I'm so wasted. I'm gonna blow the limit on a breathalyzer…"

The voice laughed. _"Tell me about it. Gonna be one hell of a hangover tomorrow. Guess I'll be missing school again."_

Sirens could be heard now.

"Shit. That's them. Damnit, Kabuto, you couldn't have called sooner?"

"_Hey, give me a break. We just got away; I called the first chance I got."_

"'Kay well I'll call you later once we've ditched them."

"_Later."_

Sasuke clapped his phone shut, then cursed loudly when he saw blue and red lights. He couldn't go the way he came, so he decided to risk it and raced forward into the brush.

Karin screamed as they drove into the woods, twigs and branches hitting the car. Sasuke veered out of the way of a large tree, narrowly missing another. He swore loudly, glancing behind his shoulder. Two police cars could now be seen in the distance.

The car emerged from the forest, now in the middle of a large field. Neither Sasuke nor Karin recognized it, but hoped that there was a road nearby.

The police cars plowed out of the trees, following relentlessly. They were starting to catch up. Sasuke groaned and increased his speed as well.

"Floor it!" Karin snapped, and Sasuke obeyed her command. His foot pressed the gas pedal all the way down, the engine revving even louder now. He glanced behind him for just a second or two, when suddenly Karin screamed at the top of her lungs.

Sasuke had just enough time to turn around and see that his car was headed directly at a large oak tree at the edge of the woods on the other side of the field. He tried to swivel out of the way, but they were moving too fast. They slammed headfirst into the tree.

Sasuke and Karin shot forward- neither of them wearing seatbelts. Luckily Sasuke's airbag deployed before he could move much further, but Karin shot through the windshield. Sasuke's head banged hard on the dashboard, he could feel something warm trickling down his face.

The sirens stopped as three officers made their way over to the car. Sasuke shifted his head slowly to glance out the window before everything went dark.

* * *

A week later, Sasuke headed out his front door, sitting in the passenger seat of a dark red sports car. He sighed as he slammed the door shut, stuffing his black backpack to the ground where his feet were. 

"Good morning to you too."

"Hn. What's so good about it," Sasuke mumbled.

Kabuto laughed. "And you're welcome for driving you. I don't even go to high school and I'm driving you. Jeez you sure have good friends."

"Hn."

"So, it's your first day back- think they'll expel you?"

"No idea," Sasuke said as he looked out the window, watching the houses pass by him as they drove out of his neighborhood. "Doubtful. I mean, where else would I go?"

"Well, you're eighteen. You technically don't have to."

"Yeah, but if I don't graduate, I lose any and all of my money. Then I'm broke and my parents will kick me out. Not exactly the way I planned my senior year to be."

"Hm. Good point. Well I guess you'll just have to see what your headmaster says. I bet you'll have to do some community service bullshit or something," Kabuto said with a smirk as he pulled up to a stoplight. Sasuke smirked as well, and the two were silent for about five minutes.

"So… I'm going to see Karin in the hospital today. Apparently she woke up."

"Hn."

"Well…"

"Well what?" Sasuke snapped.

"Are you going to?"

"Visit her? No."

"Why not? I thought-"

"She's not my girlfriend or anything. I don't really even like her," Sasuke said. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Then why do you fool around with her?" Sasuke turned to Kabuto and arched his brow, giving a 'why do you think?' look. Kabuto smiled. "Right. She's hot."

He pulled up to the front steps of Oto Academy. "Well, this is your stop. Have a good day at school, big guy."

"Fuck you," Sasuke snapped as he slammed the door shut. He saw Kabuto laughing as he sped away. Sasuke sighed. He couldn't wait to graduate. Most of his friends had already, and once he did, he'd be moving into the large apartment they all shared.

The first bell rang, but before Sasuke could even make it into his homeroom classroom, a voice stopped him.

"Uchiha Sasuke, my office- now."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he turned around to see the headmaster. He slowly followed him into the large office. Sasuke tugged at his uniform tie, undoing the first button as he slouched into a chair in front of a mahogany desk.

The headmaster pulled out a cardboard box. He set it on the floor, and one by one set the contents on his desk. About a dozen various bottles and cans sat between the two males.

"Do you have any idea what these are?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"_These_," he gestured to the items before him, "were found in your car. And several of the cans were found on the trail you were driving on."

"So?"

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Hn."

"You're not sorry or anything?"

"Sorry I got caught…" Sasuke mumbled. The headmaster sighed and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes, then the bridge of his nose.

"Look Sasuke," he began. "This is the last straw." He pulled out a large file and dropped it on the desk so it made a loud bang. "See this? This is your file- for your high school career alone.

"You're a smart boy, Sasuke. So I don't understand why you're hanging around with hooligans like Karin or that Orochimaru. Even Kabuto is pretty bad. Now I've given you plenty of chances to get your act together, but I'm afraid drastic times call for drastic measures."

Sasuke snorted. "What are you gonna do? Expel me?"

"No," the headmaster replied, surprising Sasuke. "That's exactly what you want. Then you can go run along with those boys whenever you please.

"Do you know where the town of Konohagakure is?"

"I've been there once or twice."

"Good. Because you're being transferred to Konoha Academy."

"Now frickin' way, I'm-"

"I spoke with the headmaster there, Haruno Ikichi. He understands your situation, and is willing to accept you to his school. You will, however, will have stricter rules, and will be watched at all times. One mess up, and you will be taken to the Board of Education, where it will be recommended you be sent to a Young Men's Correctional Facility, where you can learn to act like a normal human being in society."

Sasuke scowled. This was the last thing he needed. And his parents wouldn't like having to move…

"Like my parents would put up with this. They won't move all the way to Konohagakure just to-"

"Your parents won't be going with you. I spoke with them, and your father's business needs him here."

"So I'll get my own place?" Now this was more like it.

"Not so fast," the headmaster interrupted. "A sensei there, Hatake Kakashi, lives alone in an apartment down the street from the academy. He has an extra bedroom and is willing to provide you room and board. You will not have to pay him for food or rent, as your parents offered to do that for him."

Sasuke snorted. "You expect some professor to baby sit me?"

"Do not misjudge Hatake-san by his profession. He used to be a body guard and is skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as martial arts. He has been ordered to do what it takes in order to keep you inline."

Sasuke frowned. Eighteen years old and being babysat. Just wait till the others heard about this- they'd never let him live it down.

"Do you understand everything I've told you?"

He nodded.

"Good. Pack your things and head out to Konohagakure. Your first day at Konoha Academy is tomorrow."

Sasuke sighed, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Instead of calling Kabuto for another ride, he decided he would just walk. He wanted to think things over before telling his friends he'd be leaving.

"Oh and Sasuke?" Sasuke paused half way through the door, his head turned over his shoulder.

The headmaster gestured to the bottles and large file. "Don't mess this up. It's your last chance."

---

* * *

**A/N: **Well I'd love to know what everyone thinks of it. Should I continue it? Is it worth reading? Please let me know!! 

Oh, and I would like to make it clear that this is **not** a SasuKarin story. Like Sasuke said, he doesn't even like her. I just needed a girl in this to help emphasize Sasuke before he… well, I don't want to give anything away. Basically, I needed someone to show the 'Before Sasuke' and figured she'd do. But yeah, this is a SasuSaku story through and through.


	2. Konohagakure

**A/N: **Wow. If I had known so many people would like this story, I would've written it weeks ago! Thanks so much for the great reviews and I hope you continue to!!

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

2. Konohagakure

---

Sasuke sighed as he drove down the street in the U-Haul. He glanced at the slip of paper his previous headmaster had given him, rereading his new address for the umpteenth time.

He pulled up to a stoplight, glancing around. There were houses on every corner; some little kids were playing basketball on a driveway. Two girls who looked about fifteen were walking down a sidewalk, trying to subtly glance at Sasuke. He rolled his eyes when he made eye contact with one and she started giggling and whispering to her companion.

The light turned green and he revved the engine- or as best as he could in the old cab of the rented truck. The two girls looked startled as they continued their way down the leaf-littered sidewalk.

A brick building came into view, and soon a golden sign as well. Sasuke had to squint to see the letters, even though he was pretty sure what they were going to read.

_KONOHA ACADEMY_

Sasuke glanced at the clock on the radio, it was almost five o'clock. Class was out. The school was nearly deserted, just a few windows had lights in them. Two students walked out the front doors, then headed to a parking lot.

_Tch. This is going to be just like Oto Academy- even the towns are the same, _he thought to himself.

Finally he found the apartment building he was looking for. He parked the U-Haul on the street and stepped up to the front door. There were about twenty different names and buzzers, but it took Sasuke about half a second to find it.

Scrawled in tiny writing was the name _HATAKE KAKASHI. _He noticed there was something else added in. What did it say?

He scowled when he finally realized what it read. _AND UCHIHA SASUKE._ He snorted, then pushed his finger on the black buzzer.

"_Yes?"_ a male voice answered. Sasuke sighed, glancing around once more and running a hand through his hair before speaking.

"Hatake Kakashi?"

"_Hai, that's me."_

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I'm the student from-"

He was interrupted by a low buzzing noise and walked over to the front door, finding that it now was open. Glancing behind him one last time, Sasuke headed into the hallway.

He walked up to the third floor, he was in apartment 3B. Sasuke knocked and after a few seconds, a silver haired man wearing an odd mask answered the door.

The two males just stood there silently- one not knowing what to say, the other not caring. Sasuke pushed his hands into his pockets, trying to figure out why this guy was wearing a mask.

"Well… would you like to see your room and then I can help you unload the boxes from the U-Haul?" Kakashi suggested. Sasuke clicked his tongue, then nodded, following Kakashi in to the average sized apartment.

"The kitchen is right over here. This is the living room, and over here is the dining area. My room is down that hallway, to the left. Yours is on the right. You can take the bathroom there, too; I have one in the master bedroom," Kakashi said casually, gesturing to each room.

Sasuke nodded. He stepped into his room to look around. There were two windows in the room- neither of them easy to sneak out of, he couldn't help but notice. There was a full bed in the corner, with a closet, dresser, and desk. Basically a standard room. Smaller than his one at home, but he could make do with it.

"So, should we go get your stuff?"

"Hn. Sure." Sasuke paused when he looked up, seeing Kakashi standing in his doorway, an orange book in hand.

_I've only seen orange books once before, and I know what kind of books those were..._

"Kakashi-san…"

"Hm?"

"Is that… Icha Icha Paradise?"

Despite the mask, Sasuke could've sworn Kakashi was smirking. "Oh, this? Hai. I have every volume ever written- along with several movies and calendars. Why, would you like some?"

"No," Sasuke snapped. "I just… well…"

"Don't worry," Kakashi said with a laugh as he led the way to the front door. "I'm not going to rape you in your sleep or anything, I'm straight."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He had a feeling he was going to become very familiar with the Icha Icha Paradise world soon.

"Whoa, this your bike?"

"Yeah," Sasuke grunted. "I crashed my Spider, so my parents made me settle for a bike this time. If I can get by without crashing it or getting in an accident for a year they'll let me buy another Spider."

Kakashi let out a low whistle as Sasuke wheeled the motorcycle out of the U-Haul. "Where should I keep this?" he asked.

"There's a garage around the corner. There are three parking spaces for each apartment. Just park it in any of the 3B spaces."

"Hn."

"'Hn'?" Kakashi asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means," Sasuke muttered as he hopped on the motorcycle, bringing it to the garage. When he got back, he found that Kakashi had already left to bring some boxes inside.

* * *

It took Sasuke about an hour and a half to unpack everything. By then, he was pretty acquainted with the apartment. He walked out of his room to find Kakashi reading on the couch. 

"Sasuke, come here for a minute."

Sasuke hesitated, but did what he was told. He sat on the arm of the couch, resting his forearms on his knees.

"Now I know the last thing you want is to have some heart-to-heart with this guy you've just met and are forced to room with," Kakashi said, setting his book on the coffee table. "But I think we should at least know a little about each other in order for this to work."

Sasuke nodded once. He supposed that did make sense…

"So… my name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm twenty-seven years old. I graduated from military school when I was eighteen, and after a year of martial arts training, became a body guard. I quit when I was twenty five."

"What happened?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi looked at him, arching a silver brow as if to ask "What does it look like happened, dumbass?" Sasuke nodded, glancing once at the mask. "So if you used to be a bodyguard, how come you decided to become a teacher?"

"Because the reason I entered military school and became a body guard was to help people. I still like that feeling, and decided I couldn't help people better than to be a teacher," Kakashi explained.

The two were silent for a few minutes before Sasuke finally blew at his bangs and muttered, "I guess it's my turn… My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and I'm eighteen years old. I'm a senior."

"You went to Oto until this year?"

"Hai."

Kakashi nodded his head, as if something made sense to him now. Sasuke glared, he could tell this Kakashi guy was making assumptions about him.

"Well, it's almost seven. Hungry?"

"Hn."

"'Hn' again," Kakashi said with a smirk as he stood up. "Well, if that's how you're going to answer, I'll just decide what your answer means myself. Come on, we're going to get something to eat. You like ramen?"

Sasuke shrugged, following Kakashi out the door as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I guess so…"

* * *

"Good evening, Ayame," Kakashi said to the girl behind the counter. She grinned at the two, taking her time with Sasuke. She looked him up and down, but then turned her attention back to Kakashi. 

"What can I get you, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I'll have one beef ramen, please." Ayame nodded, writing down Kakashi's order before turning to Sasuke.

"Hi, I'm Ayame," she said with a grin, extending her hand to Sasuke. He glanced at Kakashi, but shook the girl's hand nonetheless.

"Sasuke," he grunted in return.

"Sasuke here just transferred from Oto," Kakashi explained. "He's a senior. Ayame is a junior."

Sasuke nodded, then said, "Miso ramen."

"Sounds good!" Ayame said with another bright smile as she hastily jotted down Sasuke's order. "That'll be ready in a few!" She walked over to another customer who'd walked up to the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

"Hey, Ayame-chan!" a loud voice greeted. "I'll take three beef ramens, please!"

Sasuke turned to the source of the noise, seeing a tan blonde with odd whisker-like marks on his face grinning up at the ramen girl. He was grinning cheekily as he sat on his stool, then looked over at Kakashi.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! I didn't notice ya there! How's it goin?"

Kakashi chuckled, closing his book and turning to the irritating blonde. "Good to see you, Naruto. This is Uchiha Sasuke- he just transferred here from Oto."

Naruto grinned at Sasuke, shaking his hand. "Hey! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm a senior at Konoha Academy and I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

"The Hokage here is that Tsunade woman, isn't she?" Sasuke asked, looking at Naruto skeptically. "How do you expect to follow her? Isn't she also the head of the Konoha General Hospital?"

"Hai…" Naruto said with a slight frown, then he glanced up, his face back to its previous glow. "But that doesn't matter- I _will _become the next Hokage, I promise you that!"

"Here's you're ramen, Naruto," Ayame announced, setting the bowls in front of the blonde. He gulped down half a bowl before turning back to Sasuke.

"Since I was a kid it's been my dream, and I'm not about to give it up just because some stupid _teme_ doesn't think I can do it!"

Sasuke snorted. "Dobe…"

"_What did you call me?!_"

"Boys…" Kakashi said, pulling the two apart. "Let's just eat, okay?" The two teenagers glared for another second before turning back to their individual bowls.

"Well, I'll see you in class tomorrow, Naruto. Thanks for the ramen, Ayame," Kakashi said several minutes later as he stood up, laying his money on the counter. Sasuke paid for his own as well, giving Naruto a parting glare.

"Sure thing, sensei! I'll see _you_ at school, too, teme!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, giving Naruto the finger as he walked away with Kakashi. He smirked when he heard a bowl of ramen crash on the ground behind him. "Missed," he called back to Naruto.

When they got back to the apartment, Sasuke immediately headed for his bedroom. He grunted a reply when Kakashi bid him goodnight. He walked over to his bed, lying with his hands under his head. He sighed and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a familiar number.

"_Hey man!" _the voice answered. _"Hey guys, it's Sasuke!" _Several voices in the background could be heard shouting greetings.

"Hey, Kabuto. What's up?"

"_Oh not much. We're just about to go to a party tonight, think you can make it?" _Kabuto asked.

Sasuke glanced at his bedroom door, then the two windows in his bedroom. "Nah, probably not. I'm rooming with an ex-body guard, remember? He can probably hear me right now…"

Kabuto laughed on the other end. _"Alright, fair enough. Hey, you don't mind if I hook up with Karin tonight or something, right?"_

"Go for it," Sasuke said, rubbing his eyes. "You can have her all you want. She was annoying as fuck anyway."

"_Yeah but she's pretty good in bed, so I figure what the hell, right?"_

"Hn, yeah really." Sasuke smirked, imagining the look on Karin's face.

"_Hey assholes, I'm not some toy, you know!" _an annoyed female voice shouted in the background. Sasuke heard a slap on something then she yelped in surprise.

"_Sure thing, babe," _Kabuto said. Sasuke was sure he'd winked at the girl. _"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but we've got a party to crash. I'll call you later or somethin'."_

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I'll drive up there this weekend or something…"

"_Do it, we'll have a huge party! Okay well everyone says hello, especially Orochi-chan…"_

"Shut up, you're _sick_," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"_Whatever you say. Talk to you later…"_

"Yeah." Sasuke sighed as he heard a click and then the dial tone. He set his phone back down, glancing around at the plain dark blue walls and the wooden floors of his bedroom.

_What do people do for fun around here?_ he thought with a scowl.

He ended up driving down to an electronics store and buying a small TV for his room. He flipped through the channels and before he knew it, his alarm was beeping.

Six-thirty a.m. Day one at Konoha Academy.

* * *

Sasuke glanced at himself in the mirror hanging in the bathroom as he attempted to comb his now wet hair. The Konoha Academy uniform was very similar to the one at Oto. Except Oto's colors were black and gray, where Konoha's was blue and black. 

He had on black pants, with a dark blue blazer. Konoha Academy's crest was above his heart, it had the leaf design on it, which was the mascot for the Academy. Under the blazer was a white button up shirt, with a black tie around his neck. He sighed and shuffled into the kitchen, finding a note from Kakashi on the kitchen table.

_I leave for school every morning at six and get home around five. I'll see you in class. Have a good first day._

_-Kakashi_

_PS: Behave, Sasuke. This is your last chance, and Haruno-sama took a big risk by letting you enroll here. __Don't blow it._

Sasuke grunted. Who did Kakashi think he was, his father?

He grabbed some breakfast, then decided to head up to school. There was no one to skip class or come in tardy with, and besides, everyone knew he lived down the street. He'd have no excuse anyway.

Sasuke sped down the street on his black motorcycle, deciding he didn't mind it after all. He liked the feeling of the wind blowing on his face, and being able to pass cars that were stuck in traffic.

He parked in a spot furthest away from the school, so he would be able to delay a little more time. The trip to school was quicker than he'd expected, he could wake up at seven if he wanted to. Sasuke hoisted his backpack on one shoulder, sighed, then walked through the parking lot to the front door.

The inside of the school looked very similar to Oto Academy. The color scheme was slightly different, but there were still doors, lockers, tiled floors, bulletin boards around every corner.

He found the main office and pushed the door open. A girl on the other side yelped and she fell backwards onto the floor after her and Sasuke's bodies collided. Papers went flying and Sasuke's backpack fell open, letting several books fall out.

Once everything had settled to the floor, Sasuke could finally see who the girl was. She had a dazed look on her face, her hair that was pulled into two braids was now somewhat strewed. Did she realize that she was sitting with her legs open, giving Sasuke a glimpse of her light purple panties?

The girl had the strangest hair Sasuke had ever seen- it was light pink! She also had an abnormally large forehead, emerald green eyes, and pale ivory skin. Her uniform was identical to Sasuke's, aside from her blue and black plaid skirt, and knee-high white socks.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," the girl said once she got her bearings. She hopped onto her knees, picking up her scattered papers. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes, not even glancing up at Sasuke. "I'm such a klutz, I wasn't even paying attention to who was on the other side…"

She finally looked up at Sasuke and paused for a second before smiling. "Here let me get these for you." She grabbed his books and handed to them. "Calculus, huh. You're a senior? You must be new. 'Cause I've never seen you before…"

"Huh? Uh… yeah," Sasuke said as the girl handed him his books. He slipped them into his backpack as she grabbed the papers, pulling her black messenger bag onto her shoulder.

"Ah! I'm late. Gotta run!" the girl shouted, rushing past Sasuke and racing out the door. He scratched the back of his head, then turned back to the receptionist who was typing away on her computer.

"Hn. I'm Uchiha Sasuke, I'm here to-"

"I know who you are," the woman snapped, her bright red nails clacking across the keyboard. "Go on in, he'll see you now."

Sasuke nodded, going through the door that read _Haruno Ikichi, Headmaster_. A man with graying brown hair was standing behind a large desk. His back was turned to Sasuke as he looked out the window, hands clasped behind his back.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the man said slowly. "Welcome to Konoha Academy." He turned around and smiled politely at Sasuke, who nodded his head in return. "My name is Haruno Ikichi, please have a seat."

Sasuke did as he was told and glanced at the clock. It was nearly seven, which meant he would only have to be in there for a few more minutes.

"I spoke with your headmaster and have read your file. I know of your records and have taken enormous risk in allowing you to enroll here," Ikichi explained. "But you already knew that. I'm sure everyone has been telling you that, yes?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Hm. A man of few words, just as your previous headmaster described. Well, I'm going to make this brief. You get one chance, Uchiha, that's it. You're being watched, so don't try any funny stuff. Let's just get through this year quietly, nice and easy, got it?"

"Hn. Yes, sir," Sasuke answered, he looked up at the clock again. Any second now and the bell would ring.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you," Ikichi warned. "Alright, you can ask the receptionist for your schedule. School starts promptly at seven thirty and ends at three o'clock. Lunch is at noon. Have a good day."

Sasuke nodded and walked out the door as quickly as possible. He walked back over to the receptionist. "You have my schedule," he said flatly.

She stopped typing and gave him a look before rolling her chair to the file cabinet behind her and pulling out a piece of paper. "Don't lose it," she warned. "Next copy I'll charge you."

Sasuke couldn't tell if the woman was serious or not, but he sure as hell wasn't going to _pay_ for a schedule for a place he didn't even want to be!

_Homeroom: _

_Hatake Kakashi_

_Room 124_

His history class, which was his next class, was in the same room as well, same teacher. _Well that makes things easier, I guess…_

Sasuke went down the hall, looking for his classroom. _21… 22… 23… 24._

Two girls brushed past him as they rushed into the room. They glanced at the clock above the door and shrieked as they raced forward. The bell rang, but Sasuke kept his pace as he slowly walked into the room.

No one noticed he was tardy- heck, there wasn't even a teacher in the room! Sasuke sighed, trying to find a desk he could sit in so he wouldn't be stuck standing in front of them all morning like an idiot.

"Oi, teme!" a voice shouted. Sasuke turned to the back of the room, seeing Naruto glaring back up at him. The entire class was now silent.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Dobe. You're in this class too?"

---

* * *

**A/N: **I was going to keep going, but then I realized I was starting to get too long and soon I'd have the entire story written in chapter two! So I decided to leave you with a lame cliff hanger ((sweat drops)) Oh well, it's the best I can do. 

Who is the mysterious girl Sasuke crashed in to? (I'll be really upset if someone actually didn't figure out who it is…) I know she seemed kind of… well OOC-ish. But don't worry, there'll be more drama later on!

Please review!!


	3. Once a Rule Breaker

**A/N: **Thanks for the awesome reviews! You guys make me so happy :D

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

3. Once a Rule Breaker, Always a Rule Breaker

---

"_Oi, teme!" a voice shouted. Sasuke turned to the back of the room, seeing Naruto glaring back up at him. The entire class was now silent._

_Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Dobe. You're in this class too?"_

"Eh? Shut up, teme! Just come here and sit down already! Sheesh, what a jackass…" A boy wearing a sweatshirt with two red triangles on his cheeks snickered.

Sasuke glared and was about to walk to the desk next to Naruto, when Kakashi's voice interrupted.

"Hold up, Sasuke."

"Kakashi-sensei?! You're only five minutes late! What's up?" Naruto shouted. The rest of the class buzzed with questions as well.

Sasuke turned around to see his new roommate standing in the doorway, an old briefcase in one hand, a familiar orange book in the other. Kakashi pushed Sasuke aside as he stepped over to his desk, setting his belongings down. The masked teacher pulled off his own blazer and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up shirt to his elbows. Sasuke noticed there was no mandatory tie around Kakashi's neck, either.

"I figured Sasuke would need some help making new friends," Kakashi said with a smirk. He patted Sasuke's shoulder, who jerked away. Naruto laughed loudly and Sasuke glared at him.

"So," Kakashi said, sitting on the front of his desk. "Sasuke, why don't you tell the class about yourself…"

Sasuke turned back to face the class, all eyes were on him. Several girls were looking at him with googly eyes. A few of the guys seemed to not be paying attention at all. Naruto was making faces at him.

He sighed and kept his hands in his pockets. "Hn. Fine. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I lived in Otogakure and went to Oto Academy until yesterday. Now I live with him," he muttered, jerking his head towards Kakashi.

A hand went up in the back. It was the boy with red triangles on his face. Sasuke arched a brow in the boy's direction and the boy took that as the go-ahead.

"How come you had to transfer?"

Sasuke smirked darkly, causing the entire class to break out into buzzing whispers. Kakashi stood up quickly, trying to bring the class back to order.

"Alright, alright, calm down people! Kiba, do me a favor and go back to your usual drawing dog doodles on my desk, will ya?" Kakashi said, glaring his one eye at the boy named Kiba. He merely shrugged and continued to draw on the desk top. "Go sit down next to Naruto, Sasuke."

Sasuke blinked slowly and made his way through the crowd of desks before sitting down next to Naruto. The blonde grinned up at him.

"Heh heh, sorry about Kiba. He's really nosy."

Sasuke grunted as Kiba turned around to glare at Naruto. "Hn. I noticed."

"Yeah he's really annoying. So… why _did_ you transfer?"

"We don't have enough time for me to go through all the reasons."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Jeez, what did you do?!"

"Uzumaki, Uchiha, if you two are done chit-chatting, I have a class to teach."

"Aw, don't get your panties in a bunch Kakashi-sensei! It's just homeroom- everyone _knows_ you never teach in this class!"

* * *

Sasuke smirked as the bell rang and Naruto came back from the corner Kakashi made him sit in for the rest of homeroom.

"Shut up teme, I bet you've had worse punishments."

"Hn. This is the worst one yet," he muttered.

Naruto looked at Sasuke questioningly before turning to the classroom door. He grinned and waved to the black haired girl who entered. She looked like she had no pupils; her eyes were an ivory white.

"Hey Hinata-chan! How's it goin'?"

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun," the girl said as she sat in the desk in front of Naruto. She turned to Sasuke and blushed slightly as she smiled shyly at him. "Who's your friend?"

"You mean teme? He's-"

"We're not _friends_," Sasuke interrupted as he glared at Hinata. Her eyes widened and she turned back to Naruto, who was rolling his eyes.

"His name is Uchiha Sasuke. He just transferred here from Oto. He still hasn't really adjusted from Emo Academy yet…"

"'Emo Academy'?" Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah. Everyone knows that every Oto academy student is emo," Naruto explained matter-of-factly.

"You obviously have never been to a party in Otogakure then…" Sasuke muttered. Naruto and Hinata both raised their eyebrows.

Hinata glanced around nervously, tapping her two pointer fingers together before turning back to Sasuke. "So, how do you like Konohagakure so far, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned back in his desk. He hadn't really thought about it. It was just like any other town. Nothing stood out, nothing gave him reason to like it there. "Hn. It's fine."

Kakashi slammed the door shut as he walked into the classroom- about twenty minutes after the bell had rung. He started right into a lecture about one of the early empires of Japan, pausing every now and then to write something down on the chalk board. Sasuke had already learned about this empire last year in Oto so he just sunk down into his chair and let his thoughts drift.

* * *

"What's your next class?" Naruto asked as the three got up from their desks.

"Biology with Maito Gai," Sasuke said.

"Neither of us have that class next," Naruto said, walking next to Sasuke as they exited Kakashi's classroom. "But it's on the third floor, room 14. What class do you have after?"

"English."

"Nope, don't have that either yet. We'll just meet you at lunch!"

"Whatever."

Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets as he made his way to the stairs and walked all the way up to the third floor. Students everywhere were waving to others or already in conversations. Everyone seemed to have a place where they belonged… except him. Not that Sasuke really _belonged_ in Konoha Academy in the first place. Or in school at all. Where he belonged was with his friends in Otogakure. Going to parties, staying up all night in their apartment, helping Orochimaru with whatever the hell he had the rest of them do.

"_As soon as you graduate, Sasuke-kun," _he remembered the man saying. _"Once you graduate and move in with us, you can help me with my little… business."_

_Che. What kind of business could _that _be? Most likely being a high school graduate isn't an actual necessary requirement. He's just being an ass, _Sasuke figured. He was so deep in thought about what Orochimaru's 'business' could possibly be that he didn't notice the pair in front of him until it was too late.

"I'm sorry Lee-san, but I'm very busy right now. I just can't go out with you right now…" a girl was saying.

The boy, Lee, Sasuke had discovered, pouted, his large, caterpillar-like eyebrows furrowing together. "Oh _please_ reconsider! Your youthful beauty is-"

"Lee, I- watch out!"

Lee was so busy trying to persuade the girl carrying two boxes full of beakers to go out on a date with him that he didn't notice when someone opened the door to a classroom. The door swung open and Lee narrowly dodged it.

The girl, however, was hit during the process and sent several beakers flying. Sasuke caught all three of them with one hand and grabbed the back of the girl's collar with the other. He held her up as he set the beakers into the box, then helped her so she could stand up straight.

"Hey thanks, Gai-sensei would've- hey, I remember you! You're the new senior!" Sasuke finally noticed her unique pink hair.

"Hn. You're the klutz who ran into me this morning," Sasuke stated, his tone a mix between boredom and annoyance.

He had purposely made himself cold towards the odd girl, but- as much as he hated to admit- he was thrown off when she narrowed her eyes at him. Usually a girl would've tried so much harder to keep up a nice conversation with him- not get annoyed also!

The girl adjusted the boxes in her arms before intensifying her glare tenfold. "First of all, _you_ were the one who flung the door into _me_ this morning. And secondly, who do you think you are? Being so rude to people on your first day here…" She continued to mutter to herself as she walked into the room that Sasuke had just been looking for.

_Great, _Sasuke thought, _we're in the same class. Hn. Annoying woman…_

Room 14 wasn't like the other classrooms. There were about a dozen lab tables around the perimeter of the room and one more large lab table in the center. Lots of expensive pieces of equipment were set up on each table. One item, Sasuke couldn't help but notice, was a fancy microscope at the end of every table.

_Kabuto had been saying he was looking for a new microscope for his experiments…, _Sasuke thought to himself.

Students were now filing into the classroom, and eventually a man decked out in green spandex walked in. He had a hideous black bowl cut, and even worse eye brows. He was also identical to the guy who had nearly been hit by a door a few minutes ago. Were they related?

"Uchiha Sasuke," the man said with a big grin. "I am Gai-sensei, your Biology teacher. Please take a seat… ah, there at the empty lab table."

Sasuke blinked once at his teacher then walked over to a lab towards the back of the classroom. There were supposed to be two people at every lab table, but Sasuke was strangely the only one at his.

Gai began explaining the lesson plan, when the classroom door opened. Every head in the room turned to see who was entering. All but two heads returned to their normal pose when they saw who entered.

Sasuke glared when he saw the pink haired girl again; he hadn't even seen her leave the classroom after she set up the beakers on Gai's desk. She walked up to the teacher, explaining that she was bringing the boxes back to the janitor's office. Gai grinned and let her take a seat.

Just to Sasuke's luck, she sat down on the empty stool next to him.

Neither of them acknowledged the other as Gai began handing out lab sheets and wheeled a cart forward. He showed several slides and told the students to work with their lab partners to decide what kind of cell was in each slide.

The pink haired girl wordlessly walked to the front of the classroom, grabbing a small box of slides. Sasuke watched as she picked up their microscope, placing it perfectly between the two. She handed him a lab sheet and quickly scribbled her name at the top.

Sasuke, unusually curious towards this girl, craned his neck to read what her name was. Before his eyes could even focus on her perfectly neat handwriting, she softly said, "Anaphase."

Sasuke's head jerked up at her. Her emerald eyes were focused in the microscope, she glanced one eye at him before turning to her paper and writing it down. "The slide- it's an anaphase cell," she explained to him like he was dumber than paper.

He glared. So she thought she was smart? Well he remembered doing this unit just a few days before he was transferred. _He'd_ make sure she was correct. He tugged the microscope away from the girl, bringing his eyes to look into it. Sure enough, it was anaphase.

Sasuke snorted but wrote down the first answer. He selected another slide and muttered, "Prophase." The girl arched a brow and jerked the microscope back over to her side.

"Prophase it is," she sighed.

The two continued like this- one giving an answer, the other checking to make sure it was correct, then sighing in defeat when they discovered it was indeed the right answer- for the rest of the class.

Sasuke decided he hated this pink haired girl and was sure his life wouldn't be the same now that the pink haired baby had entered it.

* * *

English passed by quickly for Sasuke. His teacher, a uniquely red-eyed woman named Yuuhi Kurenai, regarded him like he'd been her class since the first day of school. It was refreshing to not be treated like the 'new-kid', a stage Sasuke had never had to go through before, having been an Oto Academy student his entire life.

After English class was lunch. Just as Naruto had assured, there was a seat waiting for him at the crowded table.

"Oi, teme, over here!"

Sasuke sighed and shuffled over to the table, not returning any of the welcoming smiles that were thrown in his direction. Naruto smacked him on the back before grinning to everyone else.

"Guys, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He just transferred here from Oto, but he won't tell anyone why…" Everyone glanced over at Sasuke, who just stayed looking impassive as Naruto introduced everyone sitting at the table.

"You remember Hinata-chan and Kiba," the two smiled at him, "The guy with the pony tail over there is Shikamaru," said boy paused from reading his book only to nod in Sasuke's direction, "And that's Ino." The blonde girl stopped filing her nail, her eyes passed over Sasuke's body before she smiled at him. She tossed some of her hair, but went back to filing her nail when Shikamaru cleared his throat. Ino smiled apologetically at Shikamaru.

"The two over there are Neji and Tenten," Naruto finished. A boy with white eyes like Hinata's blinked impassively at Sasuke, who returned the gesture. The girl sitting next to him grinned before turning back to a pocket knife she was playing with. Her brown hair was pulled into two buns and Sasuke noticed one of Neji's hands was on her knee.

"Greetings my youthful friends!"

The entire table sighed.

"And _that's _Rock Lee," Ino said with a frown. She shook her head, turning to Tenten. "Why again does he have to sit with us?"

Tenten shrugged. "He's been following Neji-kun and I around since we were kids, and besides, his little cherry blossom sits here…"

Ino gritted her teeth. "I swear, I'm going to smack Billboard Brow one of these days…"

"Alas, where is my youthful cherry blossom?" the boy who Sasuke recognized as the guy who matched Gai-sensei asked.

"I think she had a Student Council meeting again," Kiba said without looking up from a dog drawing he was working on.

"No, otherwise Hinata-chan would've gone too," Naruto said, tapping his chin with his finger. "Hm. Maybe she's visiting her tou-san again?"

"I bet I know where she is," Tenten said with a smirk. "I bet she's at the Nurse's Office again, trying to see if she can get some more equipment to practice with."

Sasuke drowned out the conversation about this mysterious girl and found himself thinking about the annoying pink haired brat in his Bio class. He then remembered the microscopes. He looked over and saw Gai sitting at a table in the corner, chatting animatedly with two other teachers.

He smirked- the classroom would be empty.

* * *

No one noticed when he snuck away from the table, they just continued talking about how some girl worked too much at the hospital. He slipped out of the cafeteria, going down the hall and stealthily climbing the stairs.

He made sure to look nonchalant as he walked down the hall, finding room 14 on the third floor. Just as Sasuke had figured, the door was unlocked. He quickly headed towards the closest microscope and unplugged it from the wall. Wrapping the cord around the neck of it, he kept one hand under it. Microscopes sure were heavy. He had just made it out the door when two voices were heard.

Sasuke didn't have enough time to rush back into the classroom, Gai and Kakashi had just rounded the corner. The two stopped mid-sentence when they saw the Uchiha, standing there with a school microscope in his arms.

Kakashi glared. "Uchiha, hand it over."

Sasuke sighed, but gave Gai the microscope as Kakashi dragged him by the collar to the Headmaster's office. The receptionist looked up at Sasuke and smirked, her face saying she wasn't surprised. Sasuke rolled his eyes, glaring over at Kakashi, who stared ahead of him.

"He'll see you now," the woman said, smirking even wider as Sasuke was dragged behind Kakashi.

Haruno Ikichi was sitting behind his desk, his hands folded together and resting on the desk as the two walked in and sat down. It was silent for a moment before Ikichi sat up a little, turning to Sasuke.

"I've been informed that you were just caught taking one of our school microscopes from Gai-sensei's classroom. Is this true, Sasuke?"

Sasuke kept his arms crossed and merely grunted something. Kakashi elbowed him and he sat up a bit. "Yes…" he muttered.

Ikichi's eyes narrowed. "Hm. I see. Well, I'd hoped that your enrollment here would be enough to tame your wild side, but I guess you leave me no choice but to-"

"Wait just a minute, Ikichi. I think I have another solution," Kakashi said, holding up a hand. Ikichi turned confusedly to the teacher. "Sasuke, excuse us for a moment," Kakashi said quietly as he turned to the boy.

Sasuke glared. He hated when authority figures talked about him without him there. He got up slowly and wordlessly sat down in a seat in the outer office. A few minutes later, the receptionist's phone rang.

"Hai? Right away, sir." She turned to Sasuke, narrowing her eyes. "Go in." Sasuke glared back. He still didn't even know what the lady's problem was, but there was no reason for it to be him. He didn't like her either. Hell, he didn't like _anyone_ here. At first he thought Kakashi might be alright, but he was still a teacher and ratted him out to the Headmaster.

"Have a seat," Ikichi said with a small smile. Sasuke did as he was told and waited expectantly to hear what they'd decided to do with him.

"Sasuke, you seem to have an issue with authority or rules of any matter. You're reckless, rude, and selfish." Sasuke glared. What was this, Bash Sasuke Day?

"However," Kakashi finished for Ikichi. "I think that there's still some good in you."

"So, instead of sending you to an institute and letting them deal with you, we're going to attempt to solve this problem ourselves," Ikichi explained. "I have a daughter who attends here as well. She is a senior, like yourself. I think she may be the answer we're looking for to help you learn some respect and discipline. Maybe you've already met her? Her name is Haruno Sakura."

Sasuke shrugged. "Never heard of her…"

Just then, the door opened.

"Tou-san? You wanted to see me?"

Sasuke sat up, he knew that voice! He turned around and the girl gasped. Their voices were heard in unison.

"You!"

---

* * *

**A/N: **Tee hee hee. Another cliffy! So sorry for the long update, I've been very busy working at my State Fair and school starts September 5th or 6th or something. -shudder-

Anyway, I also want to point out that in this fic, Tenten, Neji, and Lee are all the same age as everyone else. I was considering keeping them an age older, but that would give them much smaller parts in the story and we don't want that, now do we??

Once again, sorry for the late update. Please review! The more you review, the more motivated I am to update!! ((cough cough))


	4. Kakashi's Idea

**A/N: **I have officially fallen in love with this story. Which is why I'm updating this one instead of P&P. Also because I'm getting distracted with all the ideas for this fic that are floating around in my mind. I can't focus! I was sitting at a red light (cuz I got my license! Yay!) and was thinking about how I was going to open this chapter. It took me like a minute to realize the light had turned green and two angry cars behind me kept beeping at me…

I really like this Sasuke POV. I've used it occasionally, but normally there's also a Sakura POV in there too. And there will be her POV in later chapters. I just think the opening few chapters are better to be in Sasuke's world.

I'm also very happy with Sasuke's character. I've received several reviews telling me he is very in character- and I'm so proud to hear it. I tried very hard to keep him in character. I hope to keep him in character the entire story, but he might change a little. Not for the bad though, it's just a necessary change. Otherwise this entire fic would be pointless.

Okay. Enough rambling. For those of you who actually red through this entire thing, well… here's a cookie. -gives lame smile-

PS: How many of you noticed that I spelled 'read' wrong in the above paragraph? Haha I'm just too lazy to backspace… Extra cookie to anyone who was observant enough to notice!!

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

4. Kakashi's Idea

---

"_I have a daughter who attends here as well. She is a senior, like yourself. I think she may be the answer we're looking for to help you learn some respect and discipline. Maybe you've already met her? Her name is Haruno Sakura."_

_Sasuke shrugged. "Never heard of her…"_

_Just then, the door opened. _

"_Tou-san? You wanted to see me?"_

_Sasuke sat up, he knew that voice! He turned around and the girl gasped. Their voices were heard in unison._

"_You!"_

The girl's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she snapped.

"Sakura," Ikichi snapped. "Behave yourself."

The girl, Sakura, dropped her shoulders a bit and her scowl was changed into a look of shame. Sasuke smirked; it served Pinky right.

"Sakura-chan, please sit down," Kakashi said, getting up from his own chair and offering it to her. Sasuke snorted as she smiled and sat down.

"Tou-san, what did you ask me here for?" Sakura asked, glancing suspiciously at Sasuke, as she smoothed out her plaid skirt.

"It seems that Sasuke-"

"Who?" Sasuke snorted.

Ikichi looked at the two with a mix of annoyance and anger. "You two haven't met yet?"

"Well we have," Sakura explained. "We just don't know each other on a… _name_ basis, per say…"

Ikichi sighed at his daughter's reply. "Very well. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura." The two teenagers glanced at each other, but made little other acknowledgement of the other.

"Anyway," Ikichi continued. "Sasuke was transferred here as a last resort before being sent to a Young Men's Correctional Facility. He's had numerous offences, such as vandalism, speeding, underage drinking, drunk driving, breaking curfew, breaking and entering, avoiding arrest…"

Sakura's eyes widened with every charge. How could one guy- who was merely eighteen- do so much! Sasuke just smirked at her reaction. What a naïve little girl…

"The point is, we think Sasuke needs some serious intervention. He was just caught attempting to steal a school microscope," Kakashi said, leaning on a bookcase. Sakura nodded her head slowly in understanding.

"I still don't understand though, where do _I _come into the… oh _no_."

Sasuke looked over at Sakura. What was her problem? All the sudden she looked white as paper.

"Tou-san, _please_ don't do this," Sakura continued. She rose from her chair and began pacing behind the two. "I can't handle _this_! There's no way I'd be able to control him. He's vile and rude and selfish! He's reckless- I'll probably be killed by one of his… _gang member friends_!"

"Hn. If you're referring to me, I'll have you know that they're not 'gang members'," Sasuke said, turning around to glare at Sakura. "And what's you're problem anyway?"

"Sasuke," Ikichi said. "If you don't want to be sent to a Correctional Facility, you are going to be with Sakura from now on."

"_What?_" he snapped, whirling his head around so fast he nearly got whiplash.

"I've rearranged your schedules so you're taking all of the same classes together. After school you'll be together until nine thirty. Then Sasuke will promptly return to his apartment for the night. You may stay out later by special occasion, and _only _on the conditions that Sakura is with you and you check with Kakashi first.

"You can meet each other in school in the morning, and Sakura, you are to walk with him between every class. Never let this boy out of your sight."

"So I guess when she showers I'll have to be there too…" Sasuke muttered with a smirk. He winced as he felt a smack on the back of his head.

"Pervert!" Sakura shouted. Kakashi and Ikichi glared at Sasuke.

"What about Student Council meetings? Or going to the hospital? How am I supposed to do my volunteer work when I'm busy following _him _around everywhere?" Sakura demanded.

"Sasuke will go with you. You don't need to do anything to change your schedule for him, he will change his for you."

"You've _got _to be kidding me," Sasuke shouted.

"A change of scenery will do you good," Kakashi explained. "Alright you two, the bell will ring in fifteen minutes, you missed your sixth block class- which is now Calculus for you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura sighed. "It's alright. I already took it this morning. I just missed English…"

"You can just copy Sasuke's notes. And he'll do the same with yours from Calculus," Ikichi offered. "Now run along, you have Home Economics next."

"Hai, Tou-san. Bye, Kakashi-sensei."

"I'll see you at home, Sakura. Oh and Sasuke?" Sakura walked out the door as Sasuke paused at the doorway. "A single scratch on my daughter and a Correctional Facility will seem like a _vacation_..."

* * *

The two teenagers walked silently down the hall as Sakura led the way to the Home Ec classroom, which as also on the first floor. Since there was still about ten minutes of class left, they chose to stand in the hallway in an angry yet awkward silence.

Each leaned on a locker, both on opposite walls in the hallway. Sasuke was in his usual stance with his hands shoved into his pockets and his bangs hiding his eyes. One foot was propped up behind him, resting on the locker.

Sakura crossed her arms as she leaned back against the locker and she glared at the floor in front of her. Her pink lips were pushed down in an uncustomary scowl.

Eventually Sakura gave up and made a growl-like noise as she tugged at her braids. She got up and walked straight up to Sasuke, poking him hard in the chest with one finger.

"Now you listen, U-chi-ha Sa-su-ke, I'm only doing this because I don't have a choice. I don't like you, and you don't like me. But so help me, if you do anything at the hospital- if you take _anything_, I'm going to make sure that you can _never_ have children, do you understand?"

Sasuke rubbed the spot where she had jabbed him- dang that girl was strong! He watched her as she paced back and forth in front of him, her hands waving around as she continued her rant. He couldn't help but smirk as he noticed her cheeks were turning red and she was breathing harder.

"Hn. Don't worry, Haruno. I won't take anything from your precious hospital. What do you do there anyway? Read to the dying old people?"

"Don't you go making assumptions about me, Uchiha! I'll have you know that I am the-"

The bell rang and Sakura didn't finish what she was about to say. Instead she sighed with relief and rushed into the Home Ec room.

Sasuke was about to walk to a desk in the back of the room, when a voice stopped him.

"Hold it right there, Uchiha."

He turned around to see a dark haired woman arching a brow at him. "Your seat is next to Sakura." Both teenagers groaned but Sasuke sat down next to the girl. The rest of the class began to file in and students amongst them chatted animatedly. Sakura took out her English notebook and copied Sasuke's notes.

"Here's my Calculus-"

"Alright everyone, today we're having a cooking session," the teacher, Mitarashi Anko, announced. "We're going to be learning how to make onigiri."

"Onigiri? My kaa-san taught me how to make that when I was ten!" a girl shouted.

"Yeah, why don't we make something better, like ramen!" another voice shouted.

"No Naruto, we're not going to make ramen," Anko said as she rolled her eyes. Sasuke turned and saw the blonde sitting in the second row, frowning and mumbling about ramen.

Anko split the class up into groups of five and sent them to different 'kitchens' in the back of the classroom. The Home Economics classroom was different from other classrooms as well. It had several small kitchens in the back of the room, each separated by counters. There were also several washers and driers in one corner, and three computers.

Sasuke and Sakura were in a group with Naruto, Neji, and Ino. They all sat around their counter and grabbed handfuls of the rice after Ino had cooked it. Neji took a few times to get it down right, but finally he had perfected the making of onigiri. Ino kept getting rice stuck under her freshly manicured nails, so she had to start over several times.

Sasuke could've made more, but he really didn't feel like making onigiri. He looked over to see Sakura humming to herself softly as she formed perfect onigiri in the triangle format. She had already set aside four onigiri and was working on her fifth one.

He got distracted in watching the girl when several pieces of rice came flying his way. Sasuke wiped the rice off of his blazer and glanced over at Naruto, who was surrounded by a pile of rice. Naruto was watching Sakura as she made hers, but he had trouble not squishing the ball of rice.

Sakura glanced up at the struggling blonde and giggled.

"Here Naruto, take this one and try to smooth it out. Then you can wrap a strip of seaweed around it," she offered.

Naruto grinned and finished the triangular onigiri, then he grabbed a strip of seaweed and wrapped it around the side. He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut a strip of seaweed into tiny rectangles and arranged them on the onigiri so there was now a smiling face on the rice ball.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino asked.

"I saw a guy do this on TV!" he explained. "Look! He's smiling!" Ino and Sakura laughed, while Neji and Sasuke just looked at Naruto like he was insane.

Soon Ino and Sakura had each made smiling onigiri as well. Naruto made one that looked to have a beard.

"It's Asuma-sensei!" Naruto shouted. Ino and Sakura howled with laughter and even Neji smirked a bit.

"Who's that?" Sasuke asked.

"He's the Calculus teacher," Sakura explained. "Rumor has it that he has a little thing with Kurenai-sensei…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. What was it with women and their obsession with couples and match making?

Once everyone was finished making their onigiri, Anko graded each and allowed everyone to eat them. By the time everyone was finished washing and drying the dishes, the final bell rang.

Sasuke and Sakura walked together down the hall towards the student parking lot in silence. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she kept glancing over at him and then would fidget with a piece of her hair. He smirked at her nervousness.

"So," Sakura began once they were at the parking lot. "I work at the hospital until five o'clock each day. Then I usually do my homework and eat dinner with my Tou-san. After dinner I'm free to do whatever I please."

"So?"

Sakura again fidgeted with her hair, glancing anywhere but Sasuke's eyes. "So… well, we'll go to the hospital until five everyday after school. Then we can do homework together- at your place or mine, it doesn't matter. You can eat dinner with Kakashi-sensei if you'd like. Then we'll meet up again if you want to do anything until nine."

Sasuke sighed, reaching for his keys in his pocket. "Okay, so where is the hospital?"

"Just follow me," Sakura said. She walked over to a white car. It looked a few years old, but seemed to keep up with her bubbly personality. Sasuke snorted when he noticed the pink wheel cover on the steering wheel.

He made his way to his motorcycle and was about to get on it when Sakura pulled up next to him. "That's _your_ motorcycle?"

Sasuke turned around and arched a brow. "Hn." He swung a leg over the side and started up the ignition. He revved it a bit to alert Sakura that she could leave. She waved and turned left out of the lot. Sasuke sighed as he followed the girl down the street.

* * *

Sasuke followed Sakura as she drove past the Konoha General Hospital parking lot entrance and went into the back, where there was a guard kiosk. Sakura grinned at the guard and handed him a laminated photo ID. He swiped it and she pointed back to Sasuke, saying something he couldn't hear. The guard nodded and waved the both of them through.

Sasuke parked in the spot next to Sakura and she pulled out a bag from her trunk. "We'll have to get you a Pass Card," she said as they walked into a back entrance. "So I won't have to explain that you're with me every day."

"Hn." He nodded.

Sakura lead the way through the doors and Sasuke was surprised when she was greeted by several nurses and other various hospital personnel, some even referring to her as "Sakura-sama".

"Sakura-chan!" a dark haired woman said as she rushed over to the girl with a clipboard in hand. She handed the clipboard to Sakura as she continued talking. "Tsunade-sama is just finishing up a meeting with the board and then she'd like to see you before you start."

"Sounds good, Shizune-chan!" Sakura called as the woman hurried away.

Sasuke scratched the back of his head. He was starting to wonder if Sakura was actually a volunteer or if she had a different, more important job than he'd expected from her.

"Sakura," he mumbled, "What exactly do you do here?"

"You mean she hasn't told you yet, Uchiha?"

Sasuke turned around to see a blonde haired, large breasted woman standing in front of him with her arms crossed. She arched a brow at him and tapped her foot.

"How do you know-"

"Sakura-chan's tou-san called me and informed me of this little… 'program' you two are in," the woman explained. "My name is Tsunade. I'm the Chief of Staff here at Konoha General Hospital, I'm also the Hokage."

Sasuke nodded in understanding.

"So you still haven't figured it out yet?" Tsunade asked with a smirk.

"Figured what out?"

"Sakura is my apprentice."

* * *

**A/N: **School starts this Tuesday so I'll be updating even less frequently. I'm so sorry! Trust me, if I had any choice in the matter, I'd skip school and write every day!

Please Review!


	5. Babysitting

**A/N: **Bleh. School. Waste of time.

Also, it has been asked what the Hokage does in my story. Basically it's the same thing as in the series but there's no ninja stuff. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Sakura2079: thank you for your suggestion. It is a good idea and I will definitely keep it in mind!

WHOA. I just noticed that I've already gotten **132** reviews for this fic! I didn't even notice that I'd passed 100! If you were my 100th reviewer, please tell me, so I can give proper dedication ;)

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

5. Babysitting

---

"_So you still haven't figured it out yet?"_

"_Figured what out?"_

"_Sakura is my apprentice."_

Sasuke couldn't help but widen his eyes when his brain processed what Tsunade had told him. He looked over at Sakura, who was blushing a heavy red and keeping her eyes focused on the tiled floors.

He had heard of Tsunade even before the transfer, and knew that she was one of the top medics in Japan- heck, maybe the entire world. She was considered a genius (but then again, he had been called that too) and her first apprentice Shizune, who Sasuke realized later was the woman from before, was also supposedly very smart. The fact that Sakura, a mere eighteen year old high school student, was also Tsunade's apprentice really said something about the pink haired girl.

The large chested woman smirked as she watched Sasuke take in what she had said. She could tell there was a spark between the two; the tension with them was so thick she could cut it with a knife. Obviously, however, the Uchiha had really underestimated her apprentice.

"They say that soon Sakura-chan will surpass even me," Tsunade added, patting Sakura's arm. "We can expect great things from her. Heck, if the cure for cancer will ever be found, I would bet a lot of money on Sakura-chan being the one to do it."

"Okay!" Sakura interrupted, her face now even redder. "Time to go make rounds. See you later, Tsunade-shishou!" She grabbed the dark haired boy's arm and dragged him down the hall, quickly pressing the 'up' button on the elevator.

"What exactly do you do?" Sasuke asked quietly once the two were alone in the elevator. Sakura pressed the button '3' and turned back to him.

"Since I'm only eighteen and a high school student- and I have no medical degree- I can't do much yet. I've been training with Tsunade-shishou since I was about fourteen, when I started volunteering here in the first place. That was when I started to get interest in the medical field," Sakura explained.

"I watch Tsunade-shishou when she works on harder cases, and sometimes am allowed to observe surgeries. Usually I can help with patients as they recover. I'm basically at the level of like a nurse, I guess. Well, really an intern, but I still have to go to Medical School. Once I graduate, that's where I'm headed," she finished with a smile.

Sasuke hated to admit that he was impressed, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let Sakura know that. "Hn," he mumbled. He felt Sakura watching him before she turned to look forward.

The elevator dinged open and the two quickly headed out. Sasuke followed Sakura into a hospital room. Sakura was looking down at a clipboard and smiled up at the woman who was lying in a bed. A freshly born infant was in the woman's arms, it was sleeping as she rocked it.

"Good afternoon, Akiko-san," Sakura said with a smile. "How are you feeling today?"

The blonde haired woman smiled back to Sakura. "A little tired, but I'm feeling better. I'm slowly getting my energy back."

"That's good," Sakura said as she wrote something down. "And how is little Hayate-chan doing?"

Akiko kissed her son's head. "He's perfect. Tsunade-san took him for some tests and he's perfectly healthy. We'll be able to leave in a few days."

"That's great! Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Just buzz for a nurse if you need anything," Sakura said as she checked the IV packet hanging next to Akiko's bed. She looked over at the heart monitor screen, checking the sheets that had been printed out for both mother and child.

"Alright, everything's looking great. Give Hayate-chan a kiss for me. Oh and say hello to Nobu-san for me!"

Akiko laughed. "Sure thing. He's just out getting something to eat in the cafeteria; you might see him in the hall."

Sakura nodded and lead the way out the door as Sasuke followed silently. He watched as she wrote some notes down before flipping to another page and going into another room.

"Good afternoon, Itsuki-san. How's your hip doing?" Sakura asked the old man who also was lying in a hospital bed.

"Good as ever, Sakura-chan! I feel like I could do a thousand back flips!" he replied with a raspy voice. He rubbed his balding head and grinned up at the girl with a somewhat toothless smile.

Sakura's laugh was light and carefree. "Well I'm not so sure about that, Itsuki-san, but you should be able to walk again soon. You'll still have to use your cane though."

"Very well. Say, did you ever decide about my grandson?"

Sasuke watched from a corner as Sakura tensed, then put on a fake smile. "We're going to schedule you for some physical therapy to help you get back on track. Probably next Monday?"

"He's awfully handsome, Sakura-chan. I told him all about you and he's dying to meet you…"

"Our physical trainer, Nana, is really great. You'll love her," Sakura continued, fiddling with a tube on Itsuki's IV.

"How about Friday night!" Itsuki shouted. He reached over for the telephone that was resting on a side table. "I'll give him a call right now and set it up."

"Itsuki-san, I've got work on Friday night…"

"He can pick you up here!"

"Look, Itsuki-san, I really don't think-"

"Nonsense! Now if only I could just reach that darn blasted telephone!" the old man stretched a bit more and Sasuke noticed Sakura beginning to panic.

"She can't go out with him on Friday," Sasuke suddenly said. The two at the bed stopped and turned towards him.

"Oh really? Why not, young man?" Itsuki demanded.

"Because she's going on a date with me," Sasuke replied with a straight face. He noticed Sakura's turned a bright cherry red again and her emerald eyes widened several inches.

Itsuki stopped leaning for the phone and grabbed Sakura's hand. "Is it true, Sakura-chan? Are you and this fellow courting?"

Sakura gulped and looked back at Sasuke, whose eyes told her she'd regret if she didn't play along. She smiled shakily and patted Itsuki's hand. "Hai. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want to hurt you…"

Itsuki nodded, then looked over at Sasuke. He looked the Uchiha up and down a few times, then blinked and grinned. "Well that's alright! That lad over there looks like an even better catch than my grandson. Do you see the muscles on that boy? I haven't seen arms like that since I was seventeen and working on the farm. Me and my buddies were the buffest guys in town. You should've seen the ladies swoon over us, Sakura-chan…"

The old man continued his story as Sakura checked his hip and looked over some x-rays. She looked over his heart monitor and wrote down several notes.

"And then there was this one girl, most beautiful girl in town! Blast it, if only I could remember her name…"

"Well, Itsuki-san, I've got to finish up. Sorry about your grandson. I'll see you tomorrow," Sakura said quickly with a wave. She rushed Sasuke out of the hospital room, the old man not even noticing as he tried to remember the girl's name.

"Thanks," Sakura said as soon as they were in the hallway. She rested a hand over her chest as she took a deep breath. "I thought I was going to be stuck on a date with his grandson who has an overactive sweat gland problem…"

Sasuke smirked. "I'm sure he has a _great personality_," he said before leading the way down the hall.

* * *

Sakura finished her rounds around five o'clock and the two decided to split up for dinner, then meet up again after words.

Sasuke walked through the front door of his new apartment silently, tossing his keys on the counter and heading immediately to the refrigerator. Kakashi nodded a hello as he sat down at the table, grading some papers. He read through an essay, shook his head in disappointment, then marked something at the top with his red pen.

"Do we have _anything_ edible in here?" Sasuke grunted as he looked through the freezer that was bare aside from ice, some old popsicles, and half a dozen microwave dinners.

"Well if you don't want that, Sakura-chan dropped some things off earlier today," Kakashi answered, not looking up from his work. Sasuke poked his head out of the fridge.

"Things?" he asked. "Like what?"

Kakashi jerked his pen towards a container that sat in a corner next to the never-used toaster. Sasuke approached said container hesitantly, still unsure if this was a good idea. He opened it, seeing various pieces of sushi and onigiri packed together. It wasn't a bento box, but a Tupperware box. _Probably to keep it fresher, longer, _Sasuke thought to himself.

"Hn. You probably should've put this in the fridge…"

"Well then maybe someone should eat it."

"Yeah… to keep it from stinking up the apartment," Sasuke suggested, poking a finger at one of the sushi.

"Good idea. Well I already ate…"

"I'll eat it," Sasuke offered. He pulled everything out of the box and set it on a plate. He sat across from Kakashi, watching as he graded a paper that had perfect handwriting. Sasuke noticed the name written in the corner.

_Haruno Sakura._

"Perfect, yet again," Kakashi muttered to himself as he wrote Sakura's score on the top.

Sasuke furrowed his brow as he nibbled on an onigiri. Once again, this girl had managed to impress him. She was smart, an excellent student, soon to surpass the Hokage…

**Not to mention, freakin' hot, **a voice in Sasuke's head commented. He quickly shook his head of such thoughts and focused on Sakura's negatives.

Number One: she was a boring goodie-two-shoes. Sasuke doubted she'd ever skipped curfew, or drank more than a sip of wine, or done anything to make her precious tou-san mad.

Number Two: her tou-san. The Headmaster of Konoha Academy. Not to mention he was _extremely _possessive of his only child.

Number Three: …

Well that seemed to be it. But hey, those were two pretty bad negatives. Especially Number One. That meant no fun at all. Not that Sasuke wanted to do anything with the girl. Just… if ever he wanted the opportunity to, there wouldn't be one.

Yes.

Exactly.

The vibrating of his cell phone in his pocket brought Sasuke back to reality.

"Hn," he answered.

"_Is that really how you answer the phone?"_

"Maybe it is."

Sakura huffed on the other line. _"Fine. Be that way. Are you done?"_

He glanced down at his half-eaten plate. The onigiri was gone, but the sushi had mostly been prodded at by a chop stick. To be honest, the only two foods Sasuke really liked were onigiri and tomatoes.

"I guess so."

"_Great. I'll pick you up in five."_

"Hn. Whatever."

"_Fine. Bye."_

Sasuke glared as Kakashi glanced up at him with a small smirk. He grabbed his plate, tossing the sushi into the garbage and walked into his bedroom to change out of his uniform which he had only just now remembered.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the front door. Sasuke exited his bedroom to see Sakura standing there in a new wardrobe as well. She had on jeans, a white, long-sleeved shirt, and a striped scarf wrapped around her neck once. The two ends trailed down to her thighs. Over the shirt, she wore a black jacket.

"Ready to go?" Sakura asked.

"Hn."

"Be home at nine-thirty, Sasuke," Kakashi called out as the two headed out the door. Sakura lead the way down to her car, motioning for Sasuke to get in.

"So, we went where I wanted to go this afternoon," Sakura started as she pulled out of the parking garage. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"I just moved here. I don't know where anything is besides Konoha, Ichiraku, and my apartment."

"Good point," Sakura said with a smile. "Well, how about I take you where I used to go with my kaa-san?"

Sasuke nodded and the rest of the car ride was silent. He didn't know if he wanted to go somewhere that held such memories for Sakura when they barely knew each other. He wasn't sure if he _ever_ wanted to go there. Would she start crying? What would he do then? He sure as _hell _wasn't going to hold her.

Despite Sasuke's doubts, Sakura drove up to an empty park and parked next to a swing set. It was just down the road from his apartment. There was a large jungle gym and swing set, and across there was a large field.

"Let's go," Sakura said with a smile, leading the way to the swing set. Sasuke followed silently, but paused when he reached the swings.

"What?" Sakura questioned as she swung innocently, kicking her legs back and forth.

"Hn."

"Sasuke, what is it?"

"You actually expect me to get on one of those things?"

Sakura smiled and nodded in defeat. "I guess not. Well, come on. Why don't we just… lie in the grass and look at the stars?"

Great. Now they were going to get deep. This girl _definitely _wasn't his type. Even though Sasuke had a pretty general type. He liked his girls leggy, with just enough brain cells that she wasn't a blabbering idiot, but she was smart enough to know that he was just a hook up kind of guy who didn't want to have these deep conversations that he was now about to be forced to do.

He sat down in the grass next to Sakura, tucking his hands behind his head as they watched the stars. An airplane flew across the sky and disappeared behind a cloud. Frogs and crickets were calling as Sakura pulled her jacket tighter around her person.

Sasuke frowned as he looked up at the stars. A shooting star whisked by, disappearing almost as soon as it had appeared.

"Look, a shooting star," Sakura said quietly. She smiled softly. "Make a wish." Sasuke watched as the girl closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. When she opened her eyes again, she glanced over at Sasuke and realized that Sasuke was watching her with a condescending scowl.

"Hn. You're such a child," Sasuke muttered. Sakura shrugged.

"Oh well, we're not young forever, gotta live it up now." She turned to her side and leaned up so she was resting her head in her hand. "Look, I know you're thinking I'm going to make you have some deep conversation in attempt to… 'bond' us…"

Sasuke turned his head back to face the sky, his eyes focusing on the moon glowing amongst the stars. Another shooting star whizzed past.

"Well I'm not," she continued. Sasuke's eyes glanced back at her. "I know you don't want to be here with me, and to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to being stuck with you for however long we have to do this…"

Again she had surprised him. "You're not?"

"Why do you seem so confused?"

"Well, you want to be a doctor, doesn't that mean you like helping people?"

"Yeah, sure. So?"

"Isn't that what you're doing here? Supposed to be 'helping' me?"

Sakura snorted. "I want to help people I actually _like_," she said. "People who deserve help."

"You don't think I deserve it?"

"No, I don't," she replied. "You made all those choices, you got caught, it's _your_ fault that you got in trouble. And it's your fault I'm stuck babysitting you."

Sasuke snorted as well. "Babysitting? You're not _babysitting_ me."

Sakura laughed, sitting up. "Oh really? Then what do you call _this_?" She gestured to the two of them.

"…"

She arched her brow at him. "That's what I thought. Come on, it's a little after nine, I should take you home."

Sasuke got up, brushing the grass off of his pants as he followed the pink haired girl to her car. He glared at her and her damn genius, goodie-two-shoe-ness.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, MAJOR apologies for such a delayed update. But, to be fair, I _did_ warn you guys! I'm not very happy with this chapter, though. Did it seem like Sasuke was OOC? I couldn't tell. Oh well. It's late, I'm tired, and I have school tomorrow. I'd love to hear what you think!! 


	6. With Parties Come Drama

**A/N: **Ahh! I'm sure you all hate me by now! Please forgive me! Junior year has taken over my life :/… And I've just applied for a job. Wish me luck!!

Sakura2079: I have decided to try to incorporate your idea in, but I might tweak a few things. Thanks again for the suggestion and this chapter is dedicated to you!

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

6. With Parties Come Drama

---

Sasuke and Sakura sat down silently in their homeroom seats—one going over her biology notes, the other silently brooding as usual. It had been about three weeks since he'd transferred to Konoha Academy, and Sasuke had managed to make some friends- actually they were Sakura's friends who he was forced to get to know.

Still, the Uchiha often found himself missing his old friends. He wondered what they were up to; did they still have all night raves? Had anyone new joined the group? Had anyone left? Was he missing out on any great parties?

At the same time—as much as he hated to admit it—Sasuke was beginning to enjoy his new companions. While they weren't the same partiers he was used to, the bunch was tolerable and eventually everyone had learned how to read him and now knew when to and not to talk to him.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan! Teme!" a voice rang through the classroom. Neither had to lift their heads to see who had greeted them. Sakura patted the seat on her other side, gesturing for Naruto to come over.

"Good morning, Naruto," Sakura said with a smile as she closed her notebook. The blonde turned to her and pulled out his English book.

"Did you do the homework for last night?" he asked.

"The questions on the reading? Yes, why?" Sakura replied, pulling her book out as well.

"Can you help me with question 13? I don't get it…"

"Oh that's easy," Sakura explained. "The second paragraph on page 48 is a metaphor, describing how the mother is the forest and the daughter is like the brook. See here?" She pointed to a sentence and Naruto nodded his head as he wrote down his answer.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan! You're the best!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes when he suddenly felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. Kakashi still wasn't even in the room yet, and wouldn't be most likely for another fifteen minutes. He pulled out the phone and read:

_**New Text Message: Kabuto's Cell**_

He clicked 'open', not even minding the fact that his phone was out in the open.

_**Hey man! How's Konohagakure treatin' you? Anything remotely interesting happen?**_

Again the onyx eyes rolled in a circle as Sasuke groaned under his breath.

_**Of course not, **_he typed back. _**It's Konohagakure we're talking about. Everyone's a goodie-fuckin-two-shoes. It's driving me crazy.**_

"Who're you texting?" Naruto asked.

"Hn. No one," Sasuke mumbled, sliding his phone back into his pocket. Naruto and Sakura exchanged a glance, but then continued going over the book they were reading. A few minutes later, the phone vibrated a reply.

_**Haha sucks to be you! Think you can get out tonight? We got invited to a party and you should come.**_

He glanced over at Sakura, wondering if there was any chance in the world that he'd be able to go to a party in Otogakure.

He wasn't able to finish his thought though, because Kakashi walked into the room and began class right away.

* * *

It wasn't until lunch that Sasuke had remembered Kabuto's text. He pulled out his phone and reread the message.

_There's no fuckin way she'd let me go, _he thought with a scowl. Sasuke sighed, leaning back and running a hand through his hair.

He didn't notice someone reading over his shoulder until it was too late.

"Ooh a party! I wanna go!"

Sasuke turned around to see Ino standing behind him, her eyes gleaming excitedly. He scowled, clapping his phone shut.

"No. You're not invited—"

"Invited to what?" Neji asked.

"A party!" Ino shouted.

"A party? I'm going!" Kiba replied as he stuffed an orange slice in his mouth.

"Let's all go!" Tenten offered.

"No, listen. No one is going, not even I'm not going—"

"Going where, Sasuke?"

Sasuke cringed, turning around to see Sakura standing with her hands on her hips. She arched her eyebrows, silently telling him he better spill or else.

"I was invited to a party tonight, and then everyone decided they wanted to go."

"But we can't go unless Sasuke goes, and Sasuke can't go unless _you _go, Sakura-chan," Ino explained, wrapping an arm around Sakura's shoulders. "So what do you say?"

Sakura bit her lip, looking from person to person around the table. "I don't know…"

"Oh come _on_ Sakura-chan!" Tenten said. "It's Friday! We deserve some fun—you especially. You're always working at the hospital these days…"

Sakura looked down at Sasuke, whose face told her he didn't think she would let him. She narrowed her eyes. So he didn't think she could have fun, did he? Well she would show him.

"Alright, I guess so…"

The entire table cheered.

"But on one condition! We can't tell my tou-san or Kakashi its Sasuke's friends. If anyone asks…"

"We'll say it's a party at Gaara's! Everyone knows him! And Sand really isn't that much more of a distance than Otogakure is!" Naruto offered. Soon everyone was speaking quickly and loudly, everyone talking over each other as they talked about how excited they were.

_**I can go. Just one thing, **_he sent to Kabuto.

_**What?**_

He sighed as he typed a response. _**I'm bringing about a dozen people from Konoha…**_

* * *

"Remind me again what we're doing," Sasuke snapped as he slumped further down into the white couch in Ino's living room.

"They always do this," Neji explained with a sigh. "They love to get ready together and expect us to pick them up together."

"Who would pick up Sakura?" Sasuke wondered out loud, seeing as Naruto and Hinata and Neji and Tenten seemed to have something going on, and Ino and Shikamaru were dating.

"Kiba," Naruto answered nonchalantly. Shikamaru elbowed him in the side. "But we don't bring that up anymore…"

The door from Ino's bedroom upstairs opened, interrupting the boys' discussion. Sasuke didn't know why, but he was curious about what could've happened between Kiba and Sakura that made their relationship a taboo. Maybe there was more to Konoha than Sasuke had thought…

One by one, the girls descended the stair case, showing off their selected outfit for the night. Ino was, unsurprisingly, dressed in a tight black dress. It was strapless and ended mid-thigh. The other girls were dressed in a much less provocative way, Tenten wearing black cargos and a red shirt, and Hinata in black pants and a cream shirt.

Sakura was the last to come down the stairs, wearing simple jeans and a navy short sleeved shirt. It was a silky material and elastic gathered the shirt just below the bust, accentuating her female curves. She tucked a stray lock of pink hair behind her ear and smiled shyly at Sasuke.

"Ready to go?" she asked everyone.

The group made their way out to their cars, Neji, Tenten, Hinata, and Naruto piling into Neji's car. Shikamaru and Ino sped away in their own car. Sakura and Sasuke were just getting into Sakura's car when another voice was heard.

"Oh my youthful Sakura-chan! I hope you were not planning on leaving with out me!" Sakura cringed slightly before turning around to see a grinning Rock Lee approaching her car.

"Of course not, Lee. I didn't even know you wanted to go to the party…"

The rambunctious bowl-cutted boy hopped into the back seat of Sakura's car, shouting, "Who am I to pass up an exciting, youthful party?"

Sasuke groaned, running a hand through his raven locks as he sat in shot gun. "It's not going to be like parties you're used to here in Konohagakure, Lee."

"Really? What kind of festivities do they partake in in Otogakure?"

"You'll see…"

Sakura bit her lip as she pulled out of the driveway. There was something about Sasuke's response that made her nervous.

* * *

"It's the next left," Sasuke instructed. He nodded his head towards a dark building. "In that warehouse."

"It's in a warehouse?" Sakura shouted. Sasuke blinked once at the girl, then glanced back over at the parking lot where everyone else was piling out. Lee leaped out of the car with a pixie-like grace, shouting about how excited he was.

Ino led the way to the entrance, but was stopped by a large man.

"Entry fee?"

The blonde girl crossed her arms and frowned. "What the hell? Entry fee? I don't think so."

The man smirked. "Well if you don't have the money, you can always pay me some other way…" He licked his lips as he looked her up and down. Sakura noticed as Shikamaru's fists clenched.

The color in Ino's face drained, but her pride didn't. "No. Way. In. Hell." She lifted her arm to slap the guy, when another man grabbed her wrist. "Hey! Let me go!"

"Look, if you don't pay the fee, you don't get in," the man said, shoving Ino into Shikamaru.

"Would you shut the fuck up already?" a bored voice from the back of the group said. The two men narrowed their eyes, trying to figure out who'd said that.

"And who the hell do you think you are?"

The group parted and Sasuke walked forward, hand shoved in his pockets, a bored look on his face. The two men's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Sasuke-san! Welcome back! You should've said something in the first place, come on in!" They made sure to pat all the guys on the back as they passed through, the girls… well, a little lower.

Inside strobe lights were flashing and loud music blasted through the speakers. There was a large crowd surrounding a stage where a band was playing, and there were several other rooms with other music playing.

Ino and Sakura pushed past Sasuke, their arms linked, as they disappeared into the crowd at the stage. Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee walked over to a bar and sat down. Hinata, Tenten, and Naruto went into another room to listen to the different varieties of music.

Sasuke decided to find some of his old friends. He passed through all the rooms, finally finding Kabuto after he removed his lips from a blonde's neck.

"You made it! Manage to sneak away from Miss-Goodie-Two-Shoes?" Kabuto asked, handing Sasuke a plastic cup of beer. Sasuke took it, downing half the contents in one gulp.

"No. She's here… somewhere. A bunch of them are."

"You're kidding! Any of them hot?"

Before Sasuke could answer, several shouts and cheers could be heard from another room. The two ran over, seeing a crowd around to boys fighting.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" they chanted.

"Sasuke!" a voice called out. He turned around and found Tenten and Hinata. There was a damp stain on Hinata's shirt and her hair was somewhat tousled.

"What happened?"

"Some guy came on to Hinata-chan, but when she told him to back off, he got mad. Naruto saw this and punched the guy!" Tenten explained.

"H-he splashed his drink on me…" Hinata said, her voice barely audible over the noise. Sasuke sighed and watched as Naruto laid another punch on the guy's face. He nodded at the two girls and stepped in, pulling the two males apart.

"Alright that's enough. If this gets any worse we'll have to call the cops, and you know what that means…" the two nodded. Naruto wiped the blood from his lip and glared at the other guy as he disappeared into the crowd.

"Naruto-kun! A-Are you okay?" Hinata asked, checking the blonde for any signs of injury.

"I'm great, Hinata-chan! Come on, let's go get something to drink!" The two headed for the bar and Neji led Tenten to the crowd in front of the stage.

Sasuke turned around to see Kabuto smirking at him. "What?" he snapped, downing his cup.

"Who were they?"

"They're kids from Konoha…"

"Hm. That's what I thought."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"They've changed you. I could tell since I first saw you," Kabuto said, leading the way out of the room.

"What makes you think so?"

"The fact that you're not surrounded by women and booze."

"I just got here."

"Never stopped you before…" Sasuke watched as his old best friend walked away, disappearing into the thick crowd of young people dancing to the beat of the music. He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Sasuke-kun!" a female voice called out. He turned around, seeing a glasses-clad girl making her way towards him.

"Hn. Karin."

"I'm glad to see you!" She gave him a peck on the lips. "Come on, let's dance!" Karin grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him to the crowd of grinders. She turned around so she was nestled against Sasuke's chest, rubbing her rear against his groin.

"Just like old times, huh?" Karin said with a dreamy smile. She pulled her hand up so it rested on the back of Sasuke's neck as his hands went around her waist.

It wasn't even two minutes before Sasuke felt something was wrong. Maybe it was the way that Karin's dancing didn't make his lower region heat with excitement, maybe it was the way he didn't care that there were dozens of intoxicated—and therefore uninhibited—women surrounding him, or maybe it was just how none of this seemed to give him a thrill anymore.

Despite how annoying he was, Kabuto seemed to have a point. Sasuke had changed.

_But is it for the worse?_ a voice couldn't help but ask in his head.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke-kun?"

He was brought back to earth to find a confused Karin looking up at him. She turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck and swaying to the music. Sasuke pulled his hands away and shoved them in his pockets, searching for something he didn't know he was looking for.

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know."

"Then stay and dance with me, Sasuke-kun! Unless you're looking for a _bedroom_…" she flittered her eyelashes at him, but that _ever_ _seductive_ glance went unnoticed as the Uchiha kept looking for whatever was giving him a sour feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It was then that Sasuke's obsidian gaze found what it'd unknowingly searching for.

"Aw come on, sweetheart! One drink won't hurt ya!"

"No, I'm fine." The boy continued to push her, trying to press the questionably cloudy beverage towards her light pink lips. His hand gripped her slim waist even tighter, her silk shirt rising to show the creamy skin of her waist. Her pink hair flipped about, some falling in her hair, as he pulled her closer to him.

"Let me go!" she shouted, trying to slap the glass and his hand away at the same time. The drink went flying into the floor, unnoticed by the young man.

Sasuke's fists clenched in his pockets and eyes narrowed. He gritted his teeth and instinct told Karin that it was time to take a step back. She turned around to see a girl at the bar, being bothered by a guy she knew to be named Zaku. The girl yelped as Zaku's grip on her wrist tightened.

The sour feeling in the pit of Sasuke's stomach turned into a boiling rage as he watched. His dark eyes seemed to be glowing a red as he took a step forward.

"_Sakura…"_

---

* * *

**A/N: **Ah I'm so evil. I leave you guys with a cliffie, don't update in a long time, AND I even dare to add in that awful Karin. Muahahahaha!

Aaaanyway, I'll try to update sooner, but I'm UBER busy right now. (I heard that 'uber' doesn't actually mean very in German. Is that true? If so, why do people even use it like that?)

Please Review!!


	7. Being Bad Feels Pretty Good

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews! Yes, I know we all hate Karin, but hey, she was necessary. Maybe at the end of the story, I'll end a little epilogue where Karin gets thrown off a mountain…

This chapter is dedicated to **NeoRyu**. I love our lengthy messages and learning about life in Germany. You're a great friend!

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

7. Being Bad Feels Pretty Good

---

_Sasuke's fists clenched in his pockets and eyes narrowed. He gritted his teeth and instinct told Karin that it was time to take a step back. She turned around to see a girl at the bar, being bothered by a guy she knew to be named Zaku. The girl yelped as Zaku's grip on her wrist tightened._

_The sour feeling in the pit of Sasuke's stomach turned into a boiling rage as he watched. His dark eyes seemed to be glowing a red as he took a step forward._

'_Sakura…'_

"C-Come on, Sasuke-kun, you don't know what's going on. Let's just go—"

Sasuke brushed the girl off of his arm and continued to make his way towards Zaku. People dancing were elbowed out of the way and Sasuke made it just in time.

"Why you little—" Zaku wasn't able to finish his sentence, for he was thrown into a group of dancers.

"Sakura," Sasuke said quietly, searching over her person to make sure she was alright. She looked up at him gratefully, giving a weak smile as tears threatened to fall.

"I'm alright," she assured. She grabbed Sasuke's calloused hand. "Thank y—"

Sasuke grunted as he was thrust forward, causing Sakura to be shoved against the bar. She yelped when her spine came in contact with the corner. Sasuke steadied them before turning around to see a seething Zaku. By now, everyone had stopped dancing and was watching them.

"You should learn to mind your own business, Uchiha."

"Maybe you should learn how to take no for an answer, Abumi."

Zaku smirked. "You should talk. Although it seems like you didn't have to worry about that with this one."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he drew his fist back.

"Sasuke, no!"

He ignored Sakura's protest and his fist connected with Zaku's face. The male on the receiving end fell backwards but managed to balance himself after a few seconds. He rolled his jaw and wiped the blood dribbling out of his mouth.

Zaku leapt back at Sasuke and soon the two were rolling about, not minding anyone who got caught in the crossfire. Sasuke grunted when Zaku landed a punch on his eye, but he got payback when he stomped on two of his fingers. Sakura cringed when she heard the resounding _crunch_.

Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Ino, and Lee pushed their way through the crowd and were shocked to see Sasuke in mid-punch. They noticed Sakura standing alone at the bar, watching and apparently unable to move.

"We have to do something!" Hinata shouted over the noise of the cheering. Tenten and Neji came up to the group as well.

"I have an idea," Lee said, flipping open his cell phone. He walked to another room and returned a few minutes later. "Okay it's all taken care of."

"What did you do?" Neji asked.

"I called—" He paused when Ino yelped as she saw blood splatter on the floor in front of her, there was an even worse feeling in her stomach when she realized she couldn't even tell whose it was.

"Lee," Tenten said, pulling everyone to attention. "What did you do?"

Before Lee could give a reply, the sound of sirens could be heard. Everyone started shouting and rushed towards exits. The swarm of people was maddening, people were being trampled, friends were being left behind so long as an exit could be reached.

"Shika-kun!" Ino yelled as she got separated from the group. An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. The blonde looked up lovingly at her boyfriend, bringing her arms around him as well.

Sakura finally snapped out of her haze when someone ran into her. She pulled Sasuke off of Zaku, who then disappeared into the crowd.

"Leave him!" she ordered, trying to restrain the enraged Uchiha. Finally Sasuke calmed down and allowed her to lead him out an exit. They made their way to his car, watching as their friends sped out of the parking lot as well.

"We'll meet you at home!" Tenten shouted out the window. Lee pressed his sad face up against the window as Neji drove out of the parking lot.

Sasuke didn't wait for Sakura to even shut her door before speeding away. Sakura slammed her door shut and glanced behind her to see if the police cars were following. Her eyes widened.

"Sasuke, the cops!"

Sasuke glanced in his rear view mirror to see two police cars pulling out of the parking lot. He made a quick right turn and pulled up to the parking lot of a Laundromat. The two cars sped past them, apparently not noticing Sasuke's car had been at the warehouse.

The two were silent for about five minutes before Sasuke decided the coast was clear. He drove down the street, not really even watching the road. He felt something strange shaking in his car and realized it was Sakura.

"You okay?" he asked monotonously.

Sakura swallowed hard and nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears as she tried to take a deep breath. Sasuke glared as he focused on driving again. He pulled over to a beach entrance, parking next to a picnic table.

Sasuke was surprised to hear a shaky laugh. He turned to Sakura and she smiled, running a hand through her hair. He arched a brow at her.

"I have to admit, I've never gotten such a rush before."

Sasuke smirked. "Being bad feels pretty good, doesn't it?" (A/N: Got that from _The Breakfast Club_—which I do not own, but love very much!)

"Aa," Sakura replied. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. "I can see why you would do this kind of stuff now…"

"Hn. Oh really?"

"Yeah. I mean, you've grown up with your parents always telling you how to live your life, right? Always trying to live up to the Uchiha family name. Trying to be as good as Itachi." Sasuke snorted.

"Alright, trying to be _better_ than Itachi," she amended. "It's nice to finally be able to make your own decisions, ne?"

"Hn."

"I mean, I haven't had such overbearing parents as you have, but my tou-san has my whole life planned out for me. I kind of like the spontaneity you bring into my life," Sakura admitted.

Sasuke nodded, closing his eyes as he leaned back in his seat too. They were silent for a few minutes before Sakura patted the armrest of the car.

"I thought you drove a motorcycle?"

"I did, but Kakashi told my parents I've been doing really well since we've been together so they decided to get me another car. This one's a Porsche Carrera GT," Sasuke explained.

"Hm. I liked your motorcycle better—and I never even got to ride it…" she said with a pouty look. Had Sasuke been a laughing kind of person, he surely would've laughed at the sight.

"Jeez, I really am a bad influence on you."

Sakura giggled. "I guess so. But, I kind of like it, actually, being bad."

Sasuke arched a brow and instinct told him what he should say to that, how he should move, and instantly his mind showed images of the two of them rolling around the in the sand naked, the November air chilling their heated bodies. He smirked in that devilish way of his, leaning forward, engulfing his scent around Sakura. She looked up at him with wide eyes, but not wide with nervousness, wide with anticipation. He placed a hand on her thigh and their lips were barely apart.

But then he remembered this was _Sakura_, the daughter of the Headmaster, a little goody-two-shoes, who was sweet and pure and innocent.

And, dare he say it, his best female friend.

He pulled away and sighed, shaking his head to clear it. He moved his hands from her body and used every last bit of strength to get out of the car and lie down on the sand near the water.

A few minutes later, Sakura emerged from the car and lay down next to Sasuke, tucking her hands behind her head. The two lay there silently for about a half hour before Sasuke decided he should take the girl home.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke at a stop light. She did a double take and brought her face close to his. Sasuke tried to jerk away but she held his face in place. She flicked on the overhead light.

"What?" he demanded.

"Oh my… I think you're starting to get a black eye. Didn't Zaku hit your eye?"

"Hn."

"Don't 'hn' me! Come on, your apartment's closer—go there."

"Don't you have a curfew?"

"My tou-san thinks I'm sleeping over at Ino-pig's. I texted her a while ago and explained that I'd come over later," Sakura said, crossing her arms stubbornly.

Sasuke sighed and switched lanes so he was now headed to his and Kakashi's apartment. Now that Sakura had mentioned it, the area around his right eye _did _feel a little tender—not that he would ever mention it to her. He glared, but that just irked the injured eye even more.

Finally they pulled up to the parking lot and Sakura practically dragged Sasuke inside. A startled Kakashi looked up from the book that he was reading by the fireplace.

"Home so early?" he asked.

Before Sasuke could try to hide the injury, Kakashi let out a low whistle. "Quite the shiner you've got there, Sasuke. What exactly happened?" His tone of voice was laced with warning.

Sakura intervened. "He was defending me, Kakashi-sensei. If anyone, blame me."

Kakashi looked over at Sasuke, arching a brow in surprise. "My aren't we chivalrous…"

Sasuke grunted. Sakura shoved him down so he sat at the kitchen table.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you have any ice packs?"

"No, sorry."

"How about bags of frozen vegetables?"

"There might be some peas or corn in the back…"

"Found it!" Sakura shouted, pulling out a bag of frozen peas. "Keep this over your eye for the next 24 hours. Don't apply too much pressure to the eye, though."

Sasuke did as he was told, gently pressing the bag to his right eye. He blinked a few times to adjust to his one eye-sightedness.

"Aren't you supposed to use a cold slab of meat?" Kakashi asked from behind his book. Sasuke was almost positive the man was smirking.

"That's just an old wives' tale, Kakashi-sensei! Sheesh, like that would ever work. Now, Sasuke, you can't blow your nose for a while, as that might make the injury worse. After 24 hours you have to apply a warm, wet cloth to help increase circulation in the tissue, okay?"

"Hn. Where's the aspirin, I'm getting a headache—"

"No! Absolutely not!" Sakura shouted, shoving Sasuke back down into the chair.

"Why the hell not?" Sasuke shouted back. "My head is killing me—"

"Aspirin can prevent blood from clotting, which will make the bruising and discoloration even worse. Absolutely _no_ aspirin." Sasuke scowled, leaning back in his chair, muttering to himself.

"You're lucky Sakura-chan is such a good medic," Kakashi joked from the living room. Sasuke used his good eye to glare at the man.

"And when you're sleeping, it's best to keep your head elevated with lots of pillows, or even sleeping sitting up. It'll keep the swelling down," Sakura explained. Sasuke groaned.

"What?" Sasuke made a face and Sakura gasped, a grin taking over her face. "You're a mover, huh?"

"What?"

"You toss and turn in your sleep."

"Tch."

Sakura giggled. "It's alright, Sasuke. If you sleep sitting up you'll probably be less likely to do any damage."

"Hn."

"How about we watch a movie? That'll get you comfortable in that position," she suggested.

"Fine."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late, you two."

"Hai. Good night, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke watched as Sakura lay out several pillows for him, fluffing each one before setting it down. She surrounded the couch with pillows until there was just a tiny space for the two of them to squeeze into together. Sasuke sat down and let her put in a movie.

Sakura snuggled in close, not minding how much the two were touching. After about a half hour, she became drowsy and her head bobbed down onto Sasuke's shoulder. At first, this startled the Uchiha, but when he realized he was asleep, he smirked slightly and turned back to the movie until he too fell asleep.

An hour later, Kakashi peered into the living room to see Sakura and Sasuke snuggled up together surrounded by pillows. Sakura's head was on Sasuke's chest and his arms were around her waist. Each was snoring slightly as they nuzzled closer to the other's body heat.

The teacher smirked as he quietly turned off the movie and laid a blanket over the pair. As he walked back into his bedroom, the teenagers on the couch each smiled contentedly as they drifted further into dreamland.

---

* * *

**A/N: **Aww I love SasuSaku fluff! Well today I slammed three fingers on my right hand in my back door and was temporarily handicapped, as I'm right handed. I almost got out of doing my homework, but then I got the feeling back in my hands and really wanted to write. So my mom decided if my fingers were feeling well enough to type, they must be okay to do homework. But about a forth of this was typed solely by the pointer finger of my left hand. You should be proud of my dedication :)

Please review!


	8. Dangerous

**A/N: **I am SO sorry for such a late update! I've been swamped with homework, work, teaching Sunday School, and keeping up a social life. Seriously, who would've thought high school could be so exhausting?

WOW! 267 REVIEWS! That's my record—I _know_ you guys can beat it, heck, I bet you can even get to **300**! I'll make you a deal, whoever breaks my review record gets the next chappie dedicated to them! So go review review review!!!

PS: I do not own the movie The Perfect Score, which one of the lines in this chapter quotes. Anyone who can tell me which line it is will get a dedication too ;)

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

8. Dangerous

---

"Dobe, I swear if you shoot another spitball at me I'm gonna—"

_PTOU!_

"That's it."

"Ah! Sakura-chan, help!" Naruto ran around the kitchen table in Sasuke's apartment, trying to get away from the enraged Uchiha who had several spitballs in his hair. Others were scattered around his chair or on the table. Sakura sighed and stuck her foot out as Naruto passed, sending the blonde flying and his raven-haired enemy tumbling down after him.

Naruto groaned as Sasuke shoved him while he got up. "Aw, Sakura-chan, what was that for?"

"Because Sasuke and I were having a perfectly peaceful study session before _you_ came and whipped out your stupid spitball shooter," Sakura answered without looking up from her Calculus book. "We're not even in your class and we were still nice enough to let you come over—you should be grateful, not annoying us!"

Both boys sighed as they sat down on opposite sides of Sakura. Sasuke leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, waiting for Sakura to read the next question. Naruto picked up his pencil, trying to balance it on his nose. Sakura sighed and shook her head as she turned to her book.

"_X is to Y as—_"

"As this _shit_ is to _boring_," Naruto interrupted, flicking his pencil down on the table. Sakura looked up and glared.

"Look, I'm sorry this isn't entertaining you, but at least I'm _trying_ to help you _pass_ a Calculus test for once," she snapped. Sasuke arched a brow and smirked at Naruto. The blonde stuck his tongue out at Sasuke as he stood up to get something to drink from the fridge.

"So anyway, Sasuke, the formula we need is on page—"

"AAAAAAAH LOOK OUT TEME!"

"What the hell—ah!"

Sakura watched as Naruto's can of pop fizzed open and was _accidentally_ sprayed at Sasuke, who was now sputtering Coca-Cola from his mouth as tiny brown droplets came down from his raven bangs. Sakura's eyes widened as she tried not to giggle.

"Heh heh, sorry teme…"

"You're dead."

"Stop it, both of you," Sakura shouted, trying to stand in between the two boys. Sasuke seemed to run her over as he made his way to Naruto and all three collided. "No wait, stop you're all wet—Naruto, no don't—eep! Sasuke-kun no!"

Naruto pulled away from behind Sakura so other two fell forward, Sasuke on top of Sakura. She let out the dreaded suffix just as they landed.

Everything was silent as all three were trying to process what was going on—one desperately trying not to laugh, one praying to Kami that she would just disappear for good, and the third trying to figure out what was happening. And trying not to concentrate on how good a certain someone's body felt pressed up against his.

But that was just because it was a soft, female body. Not because it was Sakura's, per se.

Right.

Exactly.

Sakura's body—no matter how wonderfully soft and curvaceous—had nothing to do with this. Sasuke was just an… _appreciator_ of the female body, as he had been since he was about thirteen. The fact that Sakura had the most magnificent body he'd ever encountered was just coincidence.

Yes. Coincidence.

"Sakura-chan."

Damn. The dobe interrupted his thoughts again.

"Yes?"

"Did… did you call teme 'Sasuke-_kun_'?"

Sakura felt a deep heat rise from her chest all the way up her neck, past her chin, cheeks, nose, eyes, and lastly into her hairline. _Crap, so I _did_ say that out loud!_

She nervously cleared her throat, trying to focus on anything besides the current topic at hand. Not minding at all that this god-like, sculptor's dream of a body was currently resting on top of her. It was strange, how well their two bodies fit together.

Like they were two pieces of a puzzle, each made to fit perfectly with the other.

"U-Um… oh, well I—"

She was interrupted by a vibrating in her front pocket. Sasuke's body tensed and yet again Sakura felt the blush cover her face. The two teenagers cleared their throats as they each got up from the floor.

"H-Hai?"

"_Sakura? It's nearly nine fifteen. Where are you?"_

Emerald eyes widened as Sakura turned around to glance at the clock on the ancient microwave. The green digital numbers read 9:12 PM.

"Oh Kami! I'm sorry Tou-san! We were so busy studying that we must've lost track of time—I'll be right home!"

"Sakura-chan, could you give me a ride home?" Naruto asked as they all packed their books into their backpacks. Sakura sighed and nodded.

"Only because you're on the way," she said with a wink. "See you tomorrow, Sasuke!"

"Don't you mean Sasuke-_kun_?" Sasuke heard Naruto say as they walked out the door. He rolled his eyes and glanced down as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

_**New Text Message: Kabuto's Cell**_

"Hn. What does he want now?" Sasuke wondered aloud as he sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. Kakashi was out at a teachers meeting and wouldn't be back till late, leaving Sasuke in charge. He opened his phone to read the text.

_**What the fuck, Sasuke? Why haven't you answered my calls? You better have a really good reason—like you're fucking that Sakura chick or something.**_

Sasuke glared and his grip on his cell phone tightened.

_**You idiot, I told you I was busy. Jeez you sound like fucking Karin.**_

Less than a minute later, he received a new message.

_**About time! I swear, if you hadn't answered in the next ten minutes I would've driven all the way over there just to kick your ass.**_

_**And I don't sound like Karin! No way I'm HALF as whiny as that crazy bitch.**_

Sasuke smirked.

_**That's for sure.**_

He walked over to the refrigerator, taking a swig of orange juice from the carton and grabbed a box of cereal before walking back to the couch. He found a TV show he liked and turned up the volume.

_**New Text Message: Kabuto's Cell**_

_**So what's up with you? Have you fucked that Sakura girl yet? Is she hot?**_

Again Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He didn't notice until half the cereal was now dumped on the couch that he had been squeezing the box until it broke in half.

_**No. She's not like that. So stop fucking bringing it up.**_

Kabuto didn't answer, and Sasuke figured it was because he finally got the hint. He cleaned up the spilled cereal and then decided to take a shower to wash the sticky Coke residue from his hair and arms.

* * *

"Will you stop saying that! He's not like that anymore—why don't you trust me?" Sakura shouted as she paced around the kitchen.

"Sakura, you were nearly a half hour late; this boy is a bad influence on you! He has you staying out late, not answering your phone, going to parties! This isn't like you, Sakura," her father shouted back.

"That's right, this is a new me—a me who actually has fun and friends! Who doesn't always have to be Little Miss Perfect for everyone. Not like you would ever understand…"

"This was a bad idea—I can tell. Well I've had enough; I'm calling Sasuke's parents and telling them this isn't working."

"Don't!" Sakura shouted, stopping her father from grabbing the telephone. "Don't you know what'll happen to him?"

"What he deserves—he'll be sent to a Correctional Facility where he'll learn how to act like a real human being," Ikichi replied, narrowing his eyes at his daughter.

"He's changed! He's better now! He doesn't drink, or steal, or cheat—he hardly even swears now! He goes to every class and is getting straight A's! He even helps out at the hospital!"

_Okay so the last part was a stretch, but oh well…_ she thought to herself.

Ikichi shook his head as he looked at Sakura. "This boy has changed you. You're growing too attached. I never realized you would actually become friends, Sakura. I'm sorry to have put you through this."

"You're wrong about him, I _promise _you, Tou-san!"

"Sakura, there is nothing you can do. I'm calling his parents first thing in the morning."

"What's the matter with you?" Sakura shouted. "I finally get close to someone besides _you_ and you insist he's a dangerous psychopath? I'm finally having fun and being spontaneous and just being a teenager, Tou-san. You always say you want what's best for me, but you don't even _know_ me."

Before her father could respond, Sakura stormed out of the house—not bothering to grab her jacket. She zipped her purple velour sweatshirt all the way up and tugged the sleeves down in attempt to warm herself. She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked down the street. She walked to the park she used to go to with her mother in hopes of calming down.

By the time Sakura made it to the park, it was pitch black out aside from the occasionally street light. Her teeth were chattering and her fingers were numb. Sakura tucked her hands under her arms as she sat on a swing, trying to keep her body from going numb.

_Maybe I'll call Ino-pig and see if I can spend the night…_

She stood up, making her way back to the path. She heard a crunch and turned around, but nothing was behind her. Suppressing a shiver, she hummed a song to keep herself calm.

_Everything's fine, _she told herself, _you're just getting paranoid. The street is just a few feet away don't—_

There was another crunch, even louder. Sakura gasped and turned around to see a figure appear from the trees.

"Haruno Sakura?" the voice asked.

"Y-yes," she said quietly. "What do you want?"

"We need to talk." The figure was coming closer; she could now see the gleam from his glasses.

"About?"

"About my friend Uchiha Sasuke. It seems that you're taking up all his time now and changing him into a pussy."

Sakura's eyes narrowed and she felt a surge of defiance run through her. "So you're one of his Oto friends, huh? Well he's better off without you."

The man chuckled, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "Oh I beg to differ." He slapped her so hard that blood dribbled out of her mouth. He reached out for her hair, grabbing her by the ponytail. He managed to hit her once more before Sakura stomped on his foot.

Sakura yanked her head away, pulling her pink locks free from the hair binder. The man cursed as she began running down the path, hot tears pouring down her cheeks. She glanced behind her and saw there were three people running behind her now.

She grabbed her cell phone and dialed the only number she knew could help her.

"_Hello?"_

"Sasuke—help!"

"_Sakura? What's the matter?"_

"You've gotta help me, some guys who know you from Oto are chasing me. I think… I think they're gonna—"

"_Sakura, you've got to calm down. Where are you?"_

"I'm at the park!"

"_Where?"_

"The park! Where I took you the first day we met!"

"_Right. I'll be—"_

Sakura tripped on a tree root and fell forward, her cell phone flying into the woods. She managed to catch herself before she hit the pavement and continued running, brushing the tears from her eyes so they wouldn't blur her vision. She glanced back again, they were getting closer.

She turned to face forward again and barely missed crashing into a tree. She lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, feeling a hot, searing pain on her left knee. She got up and felt something warm trickling down her leg. Looking down, Sakura noticed the knee in her jeans was torn open and her knee was bright red. Each step she took pumped more blood out of the wound, pretty soon her pant leg was a deep crimson.

Suddenly, the noise behind her stopped. Sakura cautiously looked behind her and saw no one anymore. She slowed to a stop and glanced around, her emerald eyes darting everywhere. They were no where to be seen.

_They wouldn't have just left…_

She turned around and took a step when someone wrapped their arms around her.

"Gotcha," a voice hissed in her ear. She gasped and the man chuckled darkly as his two companions appeared from the trees.

"You sure do know how to put up a fight, little girl," one said. The man holding her tightened his grip and pulled one hand away to get something from his pocket. He grabbed a pocket knife and flicked it open. Sakura felt her eyes widen as she let out a loud gasp. Her heart pounded as she instinctively tried to pull away from the blade that was coming closer to her face.

"We need to leave Sasuke a little reminder about who he really is," the man holding her said. His glasses gleamed as he smirked.

"That was the old Sasuke! He's changed—and for the better! I'll never let him go back to doing that crap for people like _you_," she shouted.

"Aw, how sweet," the man replied, his grip on her waist getting tighter. It caused the wind to be knocked out of Sakura and she gasped for air. "Now let's see, what would let Sasuke know that Orochimaru isn't approving of his new behavior?"

Sakura felt herself grow dizzy as the blade neared her face. She tugged away again but still wasn't able to break free. Everything seemed to be moving in slow-motion and everything was blurry.

Suddenly, someone appeared from the darkness. They stepped forward after knocking the two other men unconscious. The man holding Sakura groaned and tightened his grip even more.

"Nice of you to join us, Sasuke." Sakura's gaze darted up to the man in front of her and she suddenly recognized that familiar chicken hair in the moonlight.

"Let her go. This is between me and you, Kabuto," Sasuke said darkly.

The man—Kabuto—chuckled just as darkly. "That's where you're wrong, you see this girl has changed you, taken you away from us—therefore she has to go."

Sasuke glared. "I'm not going to tell you again. You want to fight, you can fight me—but Sakura hasn't done anything."

"Aw but Sakura-chan was just telling me how she won't let you come back to us, weren't you? So I guess I'll just have to eliminate the competition for Sasuke's attention," Kabuto said, bringing the knife back up to Sakura's cheek—this time closer than before.

Sakura gasped loudly. "Sasuke!"

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke was behind them and hit Kabuto on the neck, rendering him unconscious as well. He pulled Kabuto back so Sakura could step forward, then picked up the three Oto males and dragged them to where he found Kabuto's car hidden in the trees. He flung the pocket knife down a garbage can before coming back to Sakura.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She shakily nodded before falling forward. Sasuke caught the girl with ease, letting her rest her upper body against his. He swung her legs up so he was carrying her and made his way to his car.

Within a matter of minutes, Sasuke pulled up onto Ino's driveway. He left Sakura in the car as he ran up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

"Sasuke?" Ino said with a surprised tone as she opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Are your parents home?"

A deep cherry red covered Ino's face and her eyes widened. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he realized what he seemed to have implied. "W-w-w-why do you ask?" she asked with a flustered tone.

"Are they?"

"No, my kaa-san is closing the flower shop and my tou-san is at a—"

"Whatever," Sasuke said as he turned and walked back to his car. Ino was about to close the front door when she saw Sasuke return with something in his arms.

"I-is that—"

"Call Sakura's tou-san and tell him that Sakura came over after the fight and is spending the night," Sasuke said, pushing past the confused blonde. She nodded shakily.

"Okay, you can bring her up to my room—third door on the right," Ino called as he walked upstairs.

A few minutes later, she returned to find Sakura lying on her bed with Sasuke sitting next to her. "What happened?"

"Sakura got in a fight with Ikichi about me and she came to the park," Sasuke explained. "Some guys from Otogakure who aren't very happy with how I'm acting right now—"

"How you're 'acting'?"

"Aa. In case you haven't noticed, I'm actually behaving now," Sasuke said with a slight smirk as he kept his eyes on Sakura's sleeping form. "Anyway, they decided to give me a 'message' and wanted to use Sakura as the 'messenger'. She called me and I stopped them before they could do any lasting damage. She must've fallen and cut her knee, we'll also have to watch the swelling in her cheek."

"I'll get some towels and bandages," Ino said, standing up.

"And some antiseptic for her knee."

She returned and hesitated as she pulled at the button on Sakura's jeans. "Um…"

"I'll get some water for her," Sasuke announced quickly and headed out the door. Ino smirked as she pulled off Sakura's torn jeans and cleaned the girl's knee. She pulled some pajama pants on her instead and stuck the jeans in the washing machine. When she got back up to her room, Sasuke was dabbing Sakura's bloody lip with a wet cloth.

"You really have changed, you know," Ino said quietly as she watched from the doorway. Sasuke said nothing but glanced up at her slightly. "Like, you're not so subtle with her anymore…"

"Hn. What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke was glaring down now, obviously trying to fight a blush. Ino smiled even wider.

"You're more comfortable with her now, and you care for her—I can see it in your eyes."

"You don't know what the hell you're—"

"Ungh, Tou-san…" Sakura moaned, her brow furrowing. Ino rushed over to her side.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" she asked.

Sakura blinked her eyes open and smiled at the two looking down at her. "D-don't tell Tou-san what… what happened…" she mumbled.

"Don't worry, we've got it covered," Ino said, gently placing a hand on the girl's cheek. Sakura smiled and nodded before falling asleep again.

"I should get going," Sasuke said. "Luckily Kakashi won't be back till eleven. Can you take over from here?"

"Duh. I know how to take care of her, Sasuke. I have been since we were kids. I'll call you if anything happens. We'll see you tomorrow," Ino said, leading the way out her door.

"Mmm Sasuke-kun…" Sakura sighed as she rolled over slightly. Sasuke's eyes widened and Ino giggled as they went down the stairs.

Ino waved goodbye as Sasuke pulled away from her driveway. _Oh boy, _she thought to herself. _What have you two gotten yourselves into?_

---

* * *

**A/N: **Meh. This was okay.. I'm sick today so I got some time to write for once! Yay sickness! Anyway, I hope the blah-ness of this chapter doesn't stop you from reviewing—remember just **1 **review away from breaking my record! 


	9. O:ASO

**A/N: **NEW REVIEW RECORD! Thanks so much guys!! You really made my day :)

This chapter is dedicated to **XXMurasaki-TsukiXX** for being my 268th reviewer!! And to** TaimaHawk12** for correctly finding the quote from the movie The Perfect Score—which is one of my favorite movies too!

Oh, one more—The New Legendary Sannin for being my **300th REVIEWER**!!!!

AAAAAAAH you guys make me so happy :D I actually just did a little happy dance.

And I guess I should apologize for the long update again… -puppy dog eyes- hehe sorry?

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

9. O:ASO

(I'd put in what that stands for, but I cant go giving things away, can I?)

---

"So Teme, I've been thinking," Naruto began as he sat down next to Sasuke at the lunch table.

Sasuke smirked. "Hope you didn't hurt yourself _too _much."

His blonde friend made a face, then continued. "Oh _ha ha ha_. Aren't you _so_ clever? _Anyway_, I've been thinking, and I was wondering… when are you gonna ask Sakura-chan out?"

Sasuke inhaled deeply, choking on the Sprite he'd just swallowed. Shikamaru, who also was sitting at the table, spit his bite of orange everywhere.

"Did you just ask what I think you asked?" he asked monotonously after wiping his mouth. Naruto slowly wiped the orange juice from his face before turning to Shikamaru.

"Yes, I did. Don't tell me you don't see the spark… the tension… the _passion_!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Dobe?"

"You and Sakura-chan! I can see the connection! And I see the way you look at her, Teme!"

"Oh really? How do I look at her?" Sasuke asked with a snort. He crossed his arms and Shikamaru smirked at him, silently saying _this should be good_.

"I don't really know how to explain it," Naruto said with a slight smile. He started speaking softer and Sasuke felt his chest begin to pound. He tried to keep his cool as he listened to what Naruto was saying. "But it's like, when you catch a glimpse of her, or hear her laugh, your eyes get this light in them. Like all you knew before was darkness, and suddenly there's this warm light in your life. And when you look at her, you realize that _she _is the light. And then you get kind of a scared yet happy look…"

This time it was Shikamaru to snort. "Scared yet happy? What the hell does that mean?"

"Like… you're so happy that she's in your life, yet at the same time you're so scared she'll leave you. And your eyes have adjusted to the light—once it's gone, everything will be even darker…"

"Oh that was beautiful, Naruto-kun. Did you come up with that all by yourself?"

"Of course I did, Hinata-chan!" he shouted to the ivory-eyed girl who sat down next to him.

"Are you talking about Sasuke and Sakura-chan?" she asked.

"What the—how do _you_ know about this?" Sasuke demanded. Hinata blushed slightly and smiled.

"Because you _do_ get a look like that when you're with her…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke snapped, crossing his arms and averting his gaze to a window. He watched as light snow flakes started to drop to the ground.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, I didn't mean to embarrass you…"

"Tch. You didn't."

Hinata tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, glancing over at Naruto before looking back to Sasuke. "Ano… if it makes you feel better, she looks at you like that, too."

Sasuke nearly fell out of his chair as he turned back to look at Hinata. He saw the looks the three gave him and quickly straightened himself out. "Hn. How do you know?"

"I watch you two together. Honestly, I think you two were made for each other—soul mates."

"She's the yin to your yang!"

"Naruto, do you always have to ruin everything?" Shikamaru asked, rubbing his temples.

"What I'm trying to say is, Sasuke, I think you should… ask her on a date. I know she'll say yes," Hinata said, tapping her two pointer fingers together.

Sasuke flicked his onyx gaze up to her. "You do?" Hinata gave a small smile and nodded.

"Hai. I'm positive. She even says your name in her sleep sometimes…"

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked.

"Last weekend the four of us had a sleepover and she kept Tenten-chan and Ino-chan and I up all night with her mumbling," Hinata explained.

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted, running a hand through his hair. He knew what he was about to say would make him sound like a pussy (A/N: I usually don't do these in the middle of a chapter, I get that they're annoying, but I don't want to forget. Please note that I **do not** like the term 'pussy' however, I'm writing in the 'Sasuke Mind Frame' so.. yeah.), but he had held it in for too long and he figured Hinata would be able to help him. "I'm… I'm too… It's too dangerous for her to be with me… She could get hurt or—"

"Not if she has you to protect her," Hinata interrupted.

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed. "If you're there to protect her, then nothing can touch her!"

Sasuke scratched the back of his head and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his temples and sighed. Keeping his face covered, he mumbled something.

"Huh?" all three said at once.

The Uchiha groaned, bringing his face in closer. "I… I don't really know how… how to ask a girl on a… date. I've never had to do it before.."

"What do you usually do?" Hinata asked.

"Well, I'd usually just go up to a girl at a party, then we'd hook up, and… that's it."

"Have you ever had a relationship before?"

"A girlfriend?"

"Have you ever even _been _on a date?"

Sasuke frowned, keeping his gaze to the side. He narrowed his eyes at one of the lunchroom tiles on the floor. Hinata exchanged glances with Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Ano.. what if we help you?"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. "Shikamaru, how did you ask Ino to be your girlfriend?"

Shikamaru sighed. "I didn't."

"What?"

"I didn't ask her to be my girlfriend. We started hanging out and then one day I heard that she was telling everyone she was my girlfriend, so I thought 'What the heck?' And we've been dating ever since…"

"Dude," Naruto said with a scowl, "That's messed up."

* * *

Sasuke sighed for the umpteenth time as he paced the kitchen in his apartment. Sakura was coming over at 2:00 and it was just after one-thirty. What was he supposed to do to kill time? It was a Saturday—there were plenty of things he could do, but nothing seemed to come to mind at the moment.

He groaned, looking over at the clock again—1:36. Twenty-four minutes! It seemed as if time was moving in slow motion, purposely doing this to upset the Uchiha. Sasuke frowned and muttered to Kami.

The young Uchiha paced back and forth, running over his 'lines' in his head.

"_Okay, Sasuke, she's going to come over at two o'clock," Hinata prompted. The two of them, plus Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino were sitting in Hinata's living room, coming up with a plan for Naruto's self-named 'Operation: Ask Sakura-chan Out' or O:ASO for short. "You're going to open the door and sit her down at the kitchen table."_

"_Why?" Naruto asked. "That's not romantic at all!"_

"Because, _if he actually took her somewhere, Sakura-chan would get suspicious and that could throw everything off, __**duh**__," Ino said as she filed a nail._

"_Anyway," Hinata continued. "Ino is playing Sakura-chan. She's going to go out on the front step and knock on the door and you're going to lead her into my kitchen and ask her out just as you would for Sakura-chan, got it?"_

_Sasuke frowned. "Why is __**she**_ _Sakura?" he asked, nodding his head at the blonde female._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" Ino snapped, her hands on her hips. _

"_You don't look a thing like her, for one." To that, the blonde girl pulled out a pink handkerchief and tied it around her hair._

"_Tada!"_

"_And you don't act like her."_

"_Oh calm down, I'm an excellent actress. Now I'm going outside, count to five, then I'll knock," Ino announced as she walked out the door._

_After five seconds, Ino knocked on the door. Sasuke gave one last exasperated glance to the others before he walked to the door._

_When he answered the door, he had to admit he was surprised. Ino was standing the way Sakura normally did when she was at his doorway—her hands clasped behind her back, her feet perfectly together, and her head slightly down. When he opened the door, her gaze lifted to meet his._

_Ino smiled lightly. "Ohayo," she said in the quiet way Sakura always did when they first greeted each other and it was just the two of them._

_Sasuke arched a brow at the girl, but she kept in character, so he did too. "Hn, ohayo." He walked to the table, expecting Ino… er, 'Sakura' to follow him._

"_Um… aren't you going to invite me in, Sasuke?" He turned to see Ino slowly turning back to her normal self._

_Sasuke smirked. "Hn. This is how we always are when you come over, Sakura. Why is it bothering you now?"_

_Ino glared for another second before smiling and nodding as she shut the door behind her. She cleared her throat and sat down in a chair. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata all crowded in the doorway from the living room, watching the exchange between the two._

"_So… what was it you wanted me to come over for?"_

_Sasuke turned and smirked at her, Ino's eyes widening. Suddenly the Uchiha had a new confidence—why had he been so nervous before? It's not like he didn't know how to charm girls, and especially when he already knew they'd say yes. This would be a piece of cake._

_He took the seat next to Ino, making sure their knees were touching. He looked up at her with smoldering eyes, his bangs slightly falling in front of his face. He knew this face made females go weak in the knees._

_Ino raised a shaky hand to tuck some hairs behind her ear as she swallowed hard and glanced over at Hinata. Then she turned back to Sasuke._

"_W-well…?"_

"_Sakura—"_

**KNOCK KNOCK**

Sasuke sat up quickly, glancing around him. Who could that be? He glanced at the clock.

"Oh _fuck_!" It was just after two o'clock.

_Damnit, what was it I said? I can't remember! _

Sakura knocked again. Sasuke walked to the door, running a hand through his hair quickly before opening it.

Of course, Sakura was standing exactly as Ino had acted. Her emerald eyes met up with his onyx ones and Sasuke felt as if he was on fire. Sakura smiled lightly before saying a quiet greeting—just as Ino had.

Sasuke nodded his head at her, then turned to walk back to the kitchen. Sakura shut the door quietly behind her and sat down at the table.

"So… what was it you asked me over for?" she asked as she settled in the chair.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Sasuke asked suddenly. "Coffee? Water? Tea?"

Sakura laughed. "Sasuke, you and I both know that this kitchen doesn't even _have_ tea in it. But I'll take a water, thanks."

Sasuke nodded, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water from the dispenser on the outside of the refrigerator door. While he stalled, he racked his memory for what he'd said, how he'd moved, what looks he gave.

Of course, he came up with nothing.

"U-um, that's good…"

Sasuke glanced down to see the glass nearly filled to the rim. Sasuke cursed and dumped some of it in the sink before handing it to Sakura.

"So…" she began, waiting for Sasuke to begin. The Uchiha male chose to remain silent, rather fixated on a scratch on the wooden table. Sasuke met her gaze with a nervous one, which confused Sakura. As long as she'd known Sasuke, she'd never seen him nervous, so what was going on now?

"Sasuke? What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"Are you busy?"

"Busy? No… wait, what? What do you mean?"

"Like tonight."

"No, I thought we were hanging out… aren't we? I mean, that's alright if we're not, I just thought we were going to—"

"No, we are. That just came out wrong. I meant… you… and… me…"

"Yes…?"

"Well, we… um, the two of us, you and me… we… together… I thought we—"

"Spit it out, Sasuke! You sound like a crazy person!" Sakura said with a teasing smile. She cocked her head and now the smile turned to a reassuring one. Sasuke remembered what Hinata had said about her feelings for him, so he took a deep breath and…

…mumbled something completely incoherent.

"Um… what was that?"

"A date."

Sakura gasped. "W-what?"

"You and me. Would you like to go?" Sakura smiled and blushed. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind once he'd realized how ridiculous he'd sounded. "What I meant was, would you like to go on a date… with me?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she grinned. She suddenly found she couldn't speak, so she nodded her head rapidly until Sasuke feared it would fall right off. He cleared his throat and continued.

"Well… I've never really been on a… a date before, so… well I guess we could stick to the cliché way and go out to dinner—that new Italian restaurant maybe?" he suggested.

She grinned even wider. "That sounds perfect. But… I'm just wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Can I change?"

"Well yeah. And… it's only two-thirty," Sasuke said with a smirk, feeling his 'mojo' starting to kick again. He gave a saucy smile and let his hair fall back into his eyes. Of course, it was _now _that he remembered how to charm.

Sakura blushed and giggled. "That's right. Well, how about you pick me up at five thirty? I'll make reservations for six once I get home."

"Sounds good. I'll see you then." The two stood up and suddenly everything got awkward.

_Oh no! What do I do now? Is he going to kiss me? Should I kiss him? Maybe just a hug for now… or shake hands? Oh Kami! What should I do?_

**Hm. What would Ino-chan do? **Inner Sakura suggested, tapping her chin with her finger.

_She probably wouldn't kiss him. She'd give a flirty look and… maybe kiss his cheek? Yeah! That sounds good!_

Sasuke watched as Sakura seemed to have a mental battle with herself. He smirked as her brows furrowed, then moved up and down as she seemed to reason. Suddenly his eyes widened when her eyes darkened a bit with… lust? Sakura's pink hair fell around her face and she had a small smirk. Sasuke swallowed deeply as she took a step towards him.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and stood on her toes as she leaned closer, so her lips were at Sasuke's ear. "Take the motorcycle, I want a little… _adventure_ tonight," she murmured.

"S-Sounds good." Then Sakura turned and placed a light kiss on Sasuke's cheek, it was innocent and yet seductive at once—much like Sakura was apparently.

She turned around silently, and before Sasuke knew it, she was gone. He slumped back in a chair and let out a loud sigh.

_Well, I'm never doing _that _again…_

* * *

Sakura sighed when she heard three car doors slam and a knock on her front door. She whipped the door open and yanked her three best friends inside.

"Took you long enough!" she shouted as the four ran upstairs to her bedroom.

"Hey, it wasn't my or Hina-chan's fault! It took us almost ten minutes to unglue _someone's_ lips from her precious Neji-kun's," Ino snapped as she sat on Sakura's bed.

Tenten blushed and chucked a pillow at the blonde. "Oh shut up, it's not like you and Shikamaru are any better."

"Guys! Can we talk about this later? We have a more important task at hand—it's already three o'clock! We have two and a half hours! Let's go!"

Ino walked over to Sakura's closet. "Okay, let's see. White skirt, purple dress, black skirt, red and pink skirt, purple skirt… hm… do you have anything… _else_?"

Sakura gave Ino a look as she sat down at her vanity and Hinata began combing her hair. She pulled it back into a half pony, then took the hair in the pony tail and twisted it into a bun.

"Where did you say he was taking you?" Ino asked as she looked through the closet again.

"That new Italian restaurant—ow," she glared at Tenten when she clipped a fingernail too close to the skin.

"Gomen," Tenten said with a light smile before she continued to another nail.

"Huh…" Ino murmured.

"_What_?" Sakura demanded, whirling around.

"Well it's just… it doesn't seem very Sasuke-ish does it…"

"He's the one who suggested it," Sakura retorted, crossing her arms. Hinata and Tenten exchanged looks and sat down on the bed with a sigh.

"Yes, because he thought you'd like it."

"So?"

"So… he's changed for you. He's done everything for you."

"And I haven't done anything for him…" Sakura said quietly.

"You cant just make him change completely, Saku-chan. You have to meet him half way…"

"Meet him half way…" she murmured to herself. "I've got an idea." She left the room and came back a few minutes later.

"Where did you go?" Tenten asked.

"I cancelled the reservation."

"What? Do you know how hard it is to get in there?" Hinata nearly shouted. Nearly, because, well, she's Hinata.

"Yeah, but Ino-chan is right. I've decided to do something more Sasuke-like for tonight," Sakura said with a smile. "We need to change my hair, it's too… pretty."

"And that's bad?" Hinata asked as she pulled the bun out.

"No. But I don't want to be pretty tonight. Tonight I need to be—"

"Sexy," Ino interrupted. She grabbed something from the back of the closet that she'd hidden at Sakura's to keep from her own snoopy parents. Both girls knew Ikichi would never snoop through Sakura's closet. "Which is why you're going to wear _this_."

* * *

At precisely five thirty, Sasuke pulled up in front of Sakura's house on his motorcycle, as she'd requested. He was relieved to see Ikichi's car was not on the driveway.

He walked up to the door, straightening his hair a bit before knocking on the door. After a moment, Sakura answered the door and Sasuke nearly fell over.

Sakura's hair was curled and pulled into a messy bun, with loose curls falling around her face. She had smoky make up on her eyes and her lips looked like they were cherry flavored. She wore a short black halter dress what went to her mid-thigh and black stilettos. Around her neck was a necklace with a red jewel resting between her collar bones.

"S-Sakura, you…"

"I've changed my mind," Sakura said as she stepped out the door. She pushed past Sasuke and he caught a whiff of her strawberry scent. "We're not going to that stupid restaurant."

"We… we're not?" Sasuke asked as he followed the pink haired girl.

"Nope. I've decided I want to go to a _party_," she said with a smile.

"A party? Like…"

"Like one of _your_ parties." Sasuke got what she was implying. Like an _Oto_ party. Since when was Sakura a bad girl? Not that Sasuke minded… But wait a minute.

"Sakura, you don't have anything to prove to me—"

"Damnit, Sasuke, I'm not trying to prove something to you! I just… I just want to have fun for once in my life. I want to be reckless and stupid and wild and crazy!" She looked up at him, her eyes glowing in that sexy way again.

"And I want you to be there with me."

---

* * *

**A/N: **Please don't hate me! I'm so sorry for the late update! I know—a whole month! What was I thinking??? But, I **did** update, and it was an extra **long** chapter! And think of how **exciting** the next chapter will be:)

I hate to burst anyone's bubbles, but there will **not** be a lemon in the next chapter. Others… well I can't guarantee anything yet. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it ;)

Aaaanyway, thanks so much for your wonderful reviews. I love you all! And I am so grateful to you guys.


	10. Party Take Two

**A/N: **47 reviews for Chapter 9 alone! Thanks so much guys! I feel so loved, especially since today was a really crappy day for me. You guys rock!!!

Also, I would like to say that while this chapter doesn't have lemons in it, there are others that will (maybe more than one?!) I got some reviews saying people didn't like lemons, but I **have **said from the **beginning** that this fic would have sexual content in it. If you don't like it, you can skip it—I'll give a warning at the beginning of the lemon chapter(s). So no one give me crap for lemons, sex happens all the time at my high school and you just learn to deal with it. If you don't want lemons, why are you even reading a rated M fic?!?

Oh yeah, there's some teenage drinking in this chapter. There's also a pretty intense lime. Just a warning.

Enough of my ramblings, on with the show!

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

10. Party Take Two

---

"_A party? Like..."_

"_Like one of your parties." Sasuke got what she was implying. Like an Oto party. Since when was Sakura a bad girl? Not that Sasuke minded… But wait a minute._

"_Sakura, you don't have anything to prove to me—"_

"_Damnit, Sasuke, I'm not trying to prove something to you! I just... I just want to have fun for once in my life. I want to be reckless and stupid and wild and crazy!" She looked up at him, her eyes glowing in that sexy way again._

"_And I want you to be there with me." _

Sasuke scratched the back of his head, chewing on the inside of his bottom lip. What would he do? Sure, a party was much more his kind of thing, but how would Sakura like it? Judging by the way she was dressed, she knew what she was getting herself in to.

"Okay..." he said with a sigh. He pulled off his black sports coat, leaving him in just a charcoal button up shirt and his black pants. "But put this on. It's the middle of November, you're going to freeze. And we're taking my car instead."

"Fine." Sakura rolled her eyes as she followed him to the motorcycle on the driveway. He turned around and she walked into his chest with a surprised squeak.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke asked. Sakura crossed her arms.

"I'm coming with you."

"Won't you ruin your hair?" Sakura glared in response to her onyx eyed date's smirk.

"It's not called a messy bun for nothing, Sasuke-_kun_," she retorted, swinging her leg over the side and wrapping her arms around his torso. Sasuke smirked as he revved up the engine.

"Suit yourself," he called before they shot down the road.

Sakura grinned, tucking her face into Sasuke's back as they turned a corner. The wind was blowing around Sasuke and hitting her face. She closed her eyes and let the rush of adrenaline consume her.

Within minutes they pulled up Sasuke's apartment. He parked the bike and the two hopped into the car. He blasted the heat so Sakura would warm up faster. She smiled in gratitude.

After about fifteen minutes, Sakura realized they weren't heading for Otogakure. She turned to her companion.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Suna," Sasuke replied as he made a left turn. "I figure it'll be a better... experience than what we'd get at Oto."

"You mean like those guys from the park."

"Hn."

Sakura nodded; she hadn't even thought about the guys who'd tried to use her to convince Sasuke to come back. Now that she thought about it though, she was relieved she wouldn't have to deal with them at her first real party. She shivered, whether in excitement or nervousness, she couldn't say.

* * *

"Well, here we are," Sasuke announced monotonously as he parked. Sakura bit her lip and looked around, playing with a strand of her pink hair. "You still sure you wanna do this?" 

Fierce emerald eyes met obsidian ones and Sakura gave a curt nod. She grinned and sat up a bit more as she undid her seatbelt.

"Positive." She pushed the car door open, slightly wobbling on her high heels before regaining her balance. Sasuke sighed, running a hand through his raven locks before he too exited the car.

"So, whose party is this, anyway?" Sakura asked as the two walked to the big warehouse. It was already dark out, so she had to squint to see the doors.

"Kankuro's."

"Gaara's brother."

"Right. Know him?"

"We've met a few times. I'm better friends with Temari than her brothers. Although don't tell Ino-chan I said that," Sakura said with a sly smile.

"Why not?"

"Because Temari and Shikamaru used to have a thing. She still likes to flirt with Shikamaru when Ino's around just to get on her nerves. I swear, I've never seen that girl greener with envy than when Temari's around."

Sasuke smirked. He could just picture the blonde getting jealous over something like that. The two got to the front door and Sasuke paid for their entry fees. Sakura smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

This party was much like the one in Oto, only instead of the colors being dark blues, grays, and blacks, there were vibrant tones of red and tan—much like the colors of Suna Academy.

There was a main room with a DJ sitting in one corner, music blasting from speakers all over the room. Hundreds of sweaty bodies were gathered there, all dancing, all moving to the beat as one. To Sakura, it was a mesmerizing new world. To Sasuke, it was exactly like all the others.

Like the other party, strobe lights were flashing everywhere. With each flash of light, the dancers had a new movement, a new pose. Sakura stood, fascinated. How had she been so uninterested at the last party?

_That was different, _she reminded herself. _Otogakure was dark and angry, where as this party is fun and full of life._

Sasuke watched the pink haired girl as she took everything in—the flashing of the lights, the smell of sweat and alcohol, the music surrounding her entire being. She'd never felt so alive before.

"I get it—why you come to these. It's a completely different world than the screwed up one out there," Sakura said with a smile.

Sasuke arched a brow and smirked. "I hate to rain on your parade, but this isn't exactly a 'deep conversation' kind of party..."

"You're right." She gave a sheepish grin. "I'm a little new at this. I still have to get in the mindset of just letting go and having fun."

"You don't really do that much, do you?"

Sakura smiled and let out a laugh. "Never. My life is always school, making Tou-san proud, hospital, Student Council, getting into college... Anyway, enough of my babbling. Let's get a drink."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Sakura asked, shrugging when Sasuke looked at her like she'd grown another head.

"I thought you were just trying to show off..."

"Nope, let's go!" She grabbed his hand and dragged the Uchiha to the bar where a blonde bar tender winked at her.

"What can I get you?" he asked.

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized she had _no_ idea what to order. She knew whiskey burned, scotch was out of the question—that was for old men who wore business suits, she'd tasted beer before and it was disgusting, this wasn't the kind of place that would serve champagne or sake. What else _was _there?

She heard a chuckle behind her and turned to see Sasuke standing behind her with his arms folded. A knowing smirk adorned on his face, the raven haired teenager stepped forward.

"Let me guess, you have no knowledge of alcohol, right?"

A light blush covered the girl's face as she nodded. Sasuke smirked even wider, amused at her innocence.

"How about we start off slow, care to try a shot?"

_Sounds like a reasonable idea, _Sakura figured. _And besides, Sasuke'll take good care of me. He knows what I'll be able to handle._

She nodded eagerly and Sasuke ordered two shots. The bartender smiled, as if he could see right through her little tough-girl façade and knew she was a first-timer. He set two small glasses down in front of the couple, filling them each with a clear liquid.

"Vodka?" Sakura asked quietly. Sasuke nodded and grabbed a glass.

"Cheers," he said with a cocky half smile as he downed it in one gulp. Sakura nervously grabbed her glass, bringing it up to her lips slowly. She managed to down half of it in one gulp, the beverage burning her throat for about two seconds before it disappeared. She could taste the alcohol on her tongue, but it was a surprisingly good taste. It tasted like... freedom.

She grinned and downed the rest of the shot and slammed the glass on the counter. Sasuke and the bartender exchanged a look as she asked for another, this time downing the whole thing at once.

Already she could feel her cheeks start to get warmer, everything seemed to lose focus a bit. She wasn't tipsy yet, but she could feel herself loosening up. Sakura looked over at the dance floor, watching as couples grinded up against each other. Sasuke took another shot, watching Sakura as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Let's dance," Sakura said, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the dance floor. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer to his chest. His hands went up and down her back as she pulled her arms around his neck.

Suddenly it was as if the entire crowd had disappeared and all that was left was Sakura and Sasuke. They stared into each others eyes, a spark of electricity shooting through the two. Everywhere their bodies connected seemed to be on fire. Sakura felt like Sasuke was looking into her soul when he gazed at her with those deep, mysterious eyes. He smirked at her and leaned forward so his forehead was resting against hers.

* * *

A few hours later, Sasuke dropped onto a pile of pillows that were sitting in the corner of a smaller room. There was some calmer music playing and soft greens and blues were flashing lightly from the ceiling. Several couples were cuddling in their own pillow piles, others were making out, and some even were passed out. 

He took a swig from the bottle in his hand, gesturing for Sakura to come sit next to him. She giggled, kicking off her shoes and dropping down next to him. Sasuke held the bottle up to her lips and Sakura giggled again before putting her lips up to the opening, taking a good mouthful before pulling away. She grinned and laughed again.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so glad we did this..." she said with a slur, not even noticing as Sasuke wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm still surprised you even wanted to come."

"Well, why not? I mean just cause I'm busy doesn't mean I don't like to have fun." She went to grab the bottle from Sasuke, but accidentally hit the neck of it, causing some of the clear liquid to splash onto her hand.

"Oops!" She giggled, but gasped when Sasuke licked it off. She watched as he dragged his tongue along her palm, sending shivers up her spine. When he was done, Sasuke looked up at her, his gaze slightly unfocused, yet even sexier than usual with his hair all disheveled.

Sasuke watched as Sakura's eyes darkened and she splashed some more vodka on her arm, this time in the crook of her elbow. Not breaking their gaze, he lowered his head to lick that up as well. This time, Sakura dribbled some down her collar bone and Sasuke was more than happy to clean that up as well. Finally, Sakura rubbed some on her lips and Sasuke practically slammed his lips against hers.

The bottle forgotten, Sasuke rolled so he was on top of Sakura, licking her bottom lip. She opened her mouth, allowing him to taste the little bit of vodka in her mouth. Their arms wrapped around each other simultaneously and Sakura moaned as Sasuke rubbed his hands all over her back. She dragged her hands up to his hair, when suddenly the Uchiha pulled back.

Before Sakura could voice her confusion, Sasuke pulled her up and led her out of the room. They walked in silence, holding hands until Sasuke opened another door, revealing a bedroom. He turned to her and before he knew it, he was being shoved up against a wall.

Sakura kicked the door shut with her foot, dragging her hands up and down Sasuke's hard chest and stomach. He groaned, bringing his hands down her back as their tongues wrapped around each other. She squeaked when she felt his hands roughly grab her rear, but then she was hoisted up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried them to the bed.

Her back hit the mattress with a soft _thump! _and before she knew it, Sasuke was back on top of her again. She moaned as he kissed up and down her neck, sucking and biting the skin above her pulse point. She clung to his hair tighter, gripping it as he sucked the bit of skin at the top of her breast that was exposed.

Sasuke felt a tugging sensation coming from his back, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was Sakura's hands, trying to pull his shirt off. He quickly sat up, undoing the buttons with a stunning speed. As he tossed the dark shirt to the ground, Sakura sat up, practically ripping the shirt he wore underneath off of his body. She ran her hands up and down his hard abs before tugging him down so their tongues could meet again.

Before laying them back down again, Sasuke pulled at the zipper at the back of Sakura's black dress. After struggling for a few seconds, he managed to release it and pulled the little dress off. Sakura helped, shoving the dress down with nearly all her strength. Sasuke growled in approval of her black strapless bra and matching lace panties—courtesy of Ino, no doubt.

Once Sakura's outer layer of clothing was removed, Sasuke pushed Sakura back down again, so her back hit the pillows. He brought his hands to her back again, but couldn't seem to find the clasp of her bra. He pulled his mouth away, rubbing his finger along the fabric on her back.

Sakura giggled, bringing his hands to her chest, where he realized that the clasp was in front. Sasuke was impressed, he arched a brow at her and her smirk was full of mischief as she helped him undo the clasp.

When Sasuke's hand caressed her breast, Sakura gasped. He massaged both breasts, rubbing his hands everywhere. He lowered his head and took one to his mouth, groaning when Sakura dragged her nails down his back. His tongue circled around her nipple, rubbing it over and over again.

He shifted so he was lying between her legs and she wrapped them around his waist again. Both groaned in unison as their aching sexes touched. Sasuke rubbed his hardening cock against her womanhood. He could feel the wetness beginning to soak through her panties as he brought his hand down there. Sakura whimpered when his finger entered her, and she dragged his mouth back up to meet hers. She was a quick learner, he noticed, as she wrapped her tongue around his, bit his lip, even sucked on his tongue, which sent a jolt of electricity down his spine.

Sasuke pumped his finger in and out of her hot, wet core. It was so tight he could hardly stand it—and it was just his finger inside there. He inserted another one and Sakura pulled away from their kiss to moan.

"S-Sasuke-kun..." she moaned, thrashing her head from side to side. He kissed up and down her neck, increasing his speed.

Somewhere along the line, her moans changed. Not from pleasure, but now to pain. Her face paled and she looked almost a little green. "Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke pulled away, watching as she furrowed her brow, biting her lip. "Are you okay?" he asked, kissing up her jaw.

Sakura nodded quickly, pinching her eyes shut. "It'll... it'll pass..." He nodded and moved back down her jaw.

Wait a minute. That didn't seem right.

"What did you say?" he asked, trying to clear his mind to understand what she meant.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura moaned. He removed his hand from between her legs and rolled off of her. He sat up, wiping his wet fingers on the sheets as he felt her forehead with his other hand.

"Sasuke-kun... I think I'm going to... to..." Immediately, Sasuke lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom. As soon as she was set in front of the toilet, Sakura threw up.

Sasuke sighed as he rubbed her back, holding her hair out of her face while the girl emptied herself. He felt his manhood begin to droop and he didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. By the time Sakura had stopped throwing up, it was back to normal.

He grabbed her bra and handed it to her. Sakura blushed as she clasped it back on, smiling softly when Sasuke returned with a small cup full of a blue liquid. She looked up at him questioningly.

"I found some mouthwash," he said quietly. "I thought it might help with the taste..."

"Arigato," she said, drinking the mouthwash then spitting it back in the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror, trying to steady herself as she swayed back and forth. Sakura turned back to Sasuke, who was leaning against the doorframe, trying to get himself in control as well. She yawned and wrapped her arms around Sasuke's waist.

"Come on, it's best to sleep it off," Sasuke suggested, leading her to the bed. He pulled the covers back and pulled her into bed with him. Sakura lay down on her side and Sasuke pulled her so she was resting against his chest, he draped an arm over her waist.

"Mm Sasuke-kun..." Sakura mumbled before she fell asleep. Sasuke smirked, nuzzling into her hair as he too drifted to sleep.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, she was aware of several things. She was lying in a bed, she had a killer headache, and she was only in her bra and panties. It was then that something... or rather, _someone_ next to her moved. 

She leaned over and saw Sasuke laying on his stomach, his hand still draped over her waist as he nuzzled deeper into his pillow. Vaguely, images of the night before were flashing back into her memory. She blushed at the way she'd acted, and yet, she was so glad she had. For once, she'd acted brave and confident and flirty. She giggled and scooted closer to Sasuke, pushing some ebony locks away from his face.

He blinked a few times before slowly opening his eyes to see Sakura looking over at him with a soft smile. He groaned and scratched the back of his head as he lifted it from the pillow.

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice still husky from grogginess.

Sakura leaned up and glanced behind him. "Uh... 7:45."

"Hn. How do you feel?"

"I have an awful headache. Other than that, perfectly fine."

"I should've watched you better. You're so small and it was your first time, you're what's called a Lightweight. It's easier for you to be affected by the alcohol than it is for someone like me," Sasuke whispered. Sakura nodded. He kissed her forehead. "Water and pain killers will take care of that headache, but for now, sleep. It's the best medicine there is."

Sakura grinned, giving him a quick peck on the lips. Sasuke rested his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her closer, his lips moving against hers gently. She wrapped an arm around his back, rubbing it up and down as their tongues softly caressed each other. Finally Sakura pulled away, giving a childish yawn as she rubbed her eyes. Sasuke smirked, pulling her in closer to him.

She rested her head on his muscular chest, closing her eyes. "Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn?"

"That was... by far the best date I've ever been on."

He snorted. "You got sick."

Sakura blushed at the memory. "Hai... but, for once I really just had fun. I was wild and crazy. Not a care in the world. It was a nice change, so... thanks."

Sasuke smirked as he rubbed her back with his free hand. He nuzzled against her strawberry scented hair and gave a content sigh as the two drifted back to sleep.

---

* * *

**A/N: **Aw. That was cute. And **HOTT**. Okay, sorry about that. Anyway, I just want to say that I'm not trying to encourage teenage drinking, but I want this fic to be somewhat realistic. This scenario has actually happened to people I know. So while underage drinking is dangerous, it's out there. I'm not gonna pretend it's not and everyone should know the consequences of it. So don't be stupid.

Okay there's my shpeal (or however you spell it. Does anyone even actually know?). Hope you enjoyed the lime. I know I did!

Hey, that was a speedy update! Be happy :)

For those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving! For those who don't, well... have a great day just the same! Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you should take the time to think about all the things you have and how blessed you are to have them. I know I'm a pretty lucky kid and I thank my lucky stars for it. Be thankful for what you have! (Like a quick update!!)


	11. The After Effects

**A/N: **SOOO SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG UPDATE! But at least it was less than a month! That's gotta count for something!

Aaaanyway…

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reviewed the last chapter (the bold ones were my favs):

Trunksmybaby , Sarah Rebecca , Alucard's-Master , The 1 and Only Lover , **animequeen100** , darklace15 , TenTenXIrista ,**SakuBunny**, Odat , **CrAzY-SiLLy-Me **(um seriously, I'm honored you're even reading my fics! I practically have a CrAzy-SiLLy-Me shrine in my bedroom) , harunosakua , eyezue66613 , Uchiha Sasume , Merridaine , soboInopig , Evil Tobi , eskeflowne , P-Prince , XxDarkAngelPrincessxX , CalwynN.D.Forever , TashioSurami , **LOUTRE**(you know I value your reviews above the rest—they're so special to me that I even capitalized your name to add extra oomph!), **nandy**(your review made me laugh) , Tiger5913 , Gothic Saku-chan , pinky101 , NorthernLights25 , Co0kIeS-n-CrEAm , **Maye Uchiha**(I actually laughed out loud when I read your review. I'm not sure why, but it was really funny to visualize) , XxMomo-chanxX , Demented Angie , tiang-mei.na , partyrockstar100 , romanceluv19 , C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only , siny , **ihearttoast09** (I love your penname, your picture, AND your review!) , **suitohatoSTUDIO** , Lexy , **XxcrimsonxgothicxtidexX**, cassandra , A.Annie.N , Camameal , hellopanda23 , missysillivan , **SakuraUchiha14** , Heartless Ghostie , **kawaii-llely-chan**(um gargantuan paragraph?? More like gargantuan review! That HAS to be the longest review I've ever received—thanks so much!) , Skyward , ANGELforSHOW , XXMurasaki-TsukiXX , -pUrpLy sTaR- , sakurapearl222 , Juliana , We rock the house

For anyone I missed, no offense, I just posted before I got your review… heh heh sorry!

Sorry for the randomness in this author's note. I just found out I'm gonna get my braces by this winter (hopefully sooner)! So I'm on a bit of a removal-of-orthodontia-high. Or maybe it was the Novocain…

One last note, I swear! You may remember (if you don't you can go back if you'd like) that about three weeks passed between chapters 5 and 6. Well the flashback at the beginning of the chapter takes place some time during those three weeks.

* * *

_This was love at first sight, love everlasting: a feeling unknown, unhoped for, unexpected--in so far as it could be a matter of conscious awareness; it took entire possession of them, and they understood, with joyous amazement, that this was for life. _

**--WHERE THE HEART IS--**

11. The After-Effects

---

This time, it was Sasuke who awoke first. Since Sakura was pretty much laying on top of him, it took the Uchiha a few tries before he managed to actually see the clock. Seeing the time, he gave a contented sigh and leaned back into the soft pillows.

Sakura murmured as she snuggled in closer to his chest, her legs rubbing against the dark pants that were still on Sasuke's. He smirked, tucking one hand behind his head as the other one rested on Sakura's upper back.

Sasuke glanced over at the window. A small stream of light was let through where the curtains weren't completely covering the window. He could see little clumps of white drifting to the ground. The first snowfall of the season—Sakura would be excited.

This new precipitation made him think of another day with Sakura, only a slightly _wetter_ one…

_Sakura and Sasuke had been spending nearly every waking minute together for about two weeks now and had finally managed to tolerate each other. However, just as they knew much about each other, they also knew how to push each other's buttons. Sakura knew that Sasuke hated to be outsmarted or proved wrong and just as easily the Uchiha loved to poke fun at the Haruno girl's forehead size, hair color, or slight height deficiency._

_They were staying after class to clean Gai-sensei's classroom—volunteered for by Sakura, of course. Sasuke grumbled as he wiped down each lab table with a wash rag, glaring at the girl who was humming to herself while she washed windows. She climbed up on a counter to reach the higher panels of a window—Sasuke groaned when he realized she was standing on the counter he'd _just _cleaned—and gasped when she looked outside._

"_Sasuke, look! It's raining!"_

"_Tch. What's so great about it?" he mumbled._

"_What's so great about it? I _love_ the rain! Don't you love to go out and dance in it? To splash in the puddles and for once just act like a kid? Not have to worry about staying clean or keeping dry? It's so cleansing and peaceful. I love rainy days…"_

_Sasuke snorted. "You're annoying…" he muttered under her breath. Sakura turned and arched a brow at him, tossing her rag down._

"_Fine. You can stay in here and clean, I'm going outside."_

_He watched as the girl hopped off the counter and walked out the door. He shook his head at her childish antics before wiping off where she'd been standing. Sasuke finished washing the windows Sakura hadn't gotten to when he saw her walk out into the rain._

_He had to admit, even if he was only watching from a second story window's distance, she looked so ethereal and at peace. He saw a small smile appear on her face as she stretched her arms out and slowly spun around, tipping her head back and allowing the water to drench her person completely._

_Before long, Sakura was completely soaked, her white blouse and plaid skirt sticking to her body like a second skin. Sasuke put their cleaning supplies back in the janitor's closet and headed downstairs with a sigh._

_He emerged from the front door with his hands in his pockets, watching as Sakura continued to laugh. She jumped in a puddle, staining her white knee-high socks a dark gray color. _

_She continued to be in her own little world, not even noticing Sasuke as he approached her. He arched a raven brow when he noticed her light blue bra showing through the thin fabric of her blouse. It reminded him of their first meeting, when she'd unknowingly flashed him a view of her purple panties. Sasuke smirked, for being such an 'innocent' this girl sure did flaunt her underwear._

"_Change your mind?" Sakura asked, keeping her eyes closed as she opened her mouth to catch some rain drops on her tongue._

"_Sakura, its October and it's freezing out. I can see my breath. You're going to catch a cold—let's go."_

_She sighed, not minding the way her damp pink locks clung to her face as she turned to face him. She grinned and nodded. "You're right. We should be at the hospital by now anyway. 'Fun Time' is over…"_

Looking back, Sasuke felt a bit guilty for ending her playtime early. But he hadn't realized how little fun she allowed herself to have back then. At least it was better for her now.

He shook her shoulder gently. "Sakura, it's ten o'clock. Time to get up."

"Mph. No. Go 'way," she mumbled, tugging the blankets over her head so they were up to Sasuke's neck.

"Sakura, trust me, you want to get up."

"No I don't. I want sleep. Go back to bed, Sasuke-kun…"

"Sakura," he said against her hair. "It's snowing."

At this, the pink haired girl shot up so she was straddling him, glancing over to the window. With an excited squeal, Sakura launched over to the window, pushing the curtains back to reveal a thin layer of snow blanketing the world around them. Sure it was just the parking lot of the warehouse they were in, but still, it gave the same feeling just the same.

She smiled at Sasuke as he came to stand next to her and peer out the window as well. He sure was glad they hadn't taken the motorcycle. They surely would've frozen on the ride home.

_Speaking of home…_

With a sigh he walked away from the view of the outdoors and went around the room, picking up the various articles of clothing that had been strewn across the room. Sakura blushed when he handed her her dress and she pulled it on quickly.

Once the two were dressed, Sasuke led the way out of the room and into the hall silently. Sakura rubbed her bare arms, trying to warm them with the friction. Sasuke was about to wrap an arm around her to give her some of his body heat when a voice called out.

"Sakura-chan?" The pair stopped and turned around to see a blonde coming toward them.

"Temari-chan! Ohayo!"

"I thought I recognized that hair of yours. I didn't even see you here last night, with… Sasuke? I'd heard that you transferred to Konoha but no one told me you two were together." She arched a brow and sipped from her mug of coffee, giving a knowing smirk to Sasuke.

"Oh, um we're not. Together. I mean we are here… together… but we're not exactly—"

"Save it, Sakura-chan, I get it," Temari interrupted with a wink. "Well I've gotta go help Kankuro clean up. Last night some idiot knocked over an entire rack of CDs, messed up one of the speakers, and twisted some cords and the DJ is having a fit. I'll see you guys soon! Oh, and tell Shika-kun I say hello!"

Sakura giggled and waved as the girl walked back to where her younger brother was yelling at anyone who passed by, waving CD cases in their faces. Sasuke turned to the girl and gestured to a table they party hosts had set up with several coffee pots and donuts.

"Want some coffee?"

She nodded and they each grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down on a couch, watching Temari bark orders to everyone helping clean up. Sakura blushed when Sasuke shifted so his arm was situated behind her, resting on the back of the couch. He rubbed her bare shoulder with his forefinger, tracing random patters on her velvet skin.

Sakura jumped when her cell phone vibrated. The caller ID screen read _HOME_. She glanced at Sasuke before answering it.

"Hello?"

"_Sakura? Where the hell are you?"_

"W-what?"

"_Where are you?"_

"I… I told you, I'm at Ino's. We just woke up and we're having breakfast now. What's going on, Tou-san?"

"_I just got off the phone with Inoichi, he wanted to get together next weekend. I asked him how you two were doing and he had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently Ino left early this morning with her mother to a botany convention—at eight o'clock this morning. I made a huge fool of myself! Inoichi probably thinks I'm an oblivious idiot," _her father hissed.

Sakura gulped, looking over at Sasuke. He tensed when he noted her worried look. "I-I'm sorry, Tou-san," she said quietly.

"_I don't care. I want you home this instant."_

"I'll be at home as soon as possible. I'm really sorry."

"_We'll talk about this when you get home, Sakura."_

"Yes, Tou-san."

She sighed as he hung up, tears brimming in her eyes. Sasuke set their cups on the ground and turned to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"T-tou-san… knows I'm not at I-Ino's. He wants me home as soon as p-possible," Sakura mumbled. She stood up quickly, attempting to straighten out her clothing.

"Let's go." Sasuke grabbed her wrist and dragged her to his car. He blasted the heat on Sakura while he quickly brushed the dusting of snow on his windows before speeding out of the parking lot.

The ride was silent until Sasuke heard a light sniff as he pulled up to a red light. He glanced at Sakura and was startled to see tears rolling down her cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something when the car behind him beeped. He cursed as he looked up and saw the green light.

Finally Sasuke pulled his car up Sakura's driveway. He turned to her and sighed. "Sakura, I didn't mean for you to get in trouble. If you want, I'll go in with you. I'll take all the blame; I was the one who lost track of time and—"

"Sasuke-kun, don't. Thank you, but don't. Last night…" She paused and took a breath, tucking her pink locks behind her ears as she hurriedly brushed the tears off of her face. She gave a weak smile. "Last night was the best night of my life, and it was my idea to go. I need to take responsibility for my actions. My father may not approve of them, but I'll never regret it, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke was speechless as she slammed the car door shut and with a final smile, Sakura walked bravely to her front door. He watched her go inside before pulling out of the driveway.

* * *

Sakura took a deep breath before opening her front door. She listened for her father and when she heard nothing, sprinted up to her room to change into sweats and a T-shirt. When she walked back downstairs into the kitchen, her father was sitting at the table with a frown on his face.

"Are you going to tell me where you actually were last night or should I just call Tsunade-sama and tell her you're resigning as her apprentice and are no longer working at the hospital?" Ikichi asked casually as he poured himself a cup of tea, like this were just mid-morning chit-chat.

"I… I…"

Sakura didn't get to finish, for the house telephone began to ring and with a sigh of relief, the girl raced to answer it.

"Haruno residence," she answered politely, glancing quickly at her father before turning her back to him.

"_Sakura? This is Yamanaka Inoichi; may I speak with your father?"_

"My father?" She turned around and he nodded at her, extending out a hand. "Sure, he's right here…"

"Hello?" Ikichi answered somewhat skeptically as he watched Sakura play with her hair. Sakura, meanwhile, was trying to act calm yet come up with an alibi—seeing as if she did actually tell her father the truth she knew she'd be locked in her room or shipped off to boarding school until she was thirty-five.

"Yes…yes, she's right here…no she didn't say anything yet, but—oh…she was? Right. Well, thank you for telling me. Yes, I'll see you soon." Sakura nervously took the telephone from her father and set it back in the base on the counter. She took a deep breath before sitting down across from him.

"What did Inoichi-san say?" she asked quietly.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry."

"W-what do you mean, Tou-san?"

"Inoichi just called and told me that he didn't know you spent the night and then went over to Hinata's this morning…"

"Oh, um, yeah…"

"She got in a fight with her father, right? The poor thing. Well you're a good friend to do that for her, Sakura."

"A-arigatou, Tou-san, but… please don't tell Hyuuga-san that I was there. You see, Hinata-chan isn't supposed to have friends over without permission, but she really needed me and she couldn't just ask her father if she could have a friend over to talk about the fight she just got into with him so—"

"Sakura," Ikichi interrupted with a chuckle. "I get it. Please forgive me. I should've trusted you."

Sakura felt her heart break as she gave a light smile. "Don't worry about it, Tou-san." She kissed his cheek. "I'm going to go shower then I'm meeting with the girls at Tenten-chan's house."

"Alright, have fun."

As she stepped in the shower, Sakura couldn't decide if she wanted to burst into tears for lying to her father so easily or jump for joy at getting away with spending the night with Sasuke. She stuck her face under the shower, letting the water wash away her stress. The heat of the water stung her cold toes, but she ignored the feeling as she lathered her cherry blossom-scented shampoo in her hair. She sighed and then let out a small giggle.

* * *

_Otogakure_

"Orochimaru-sama," a skinny, pale man said with a bow as he entered his boss's office. "Kabuto-san and Suigetsu here to see you."

"Let them in," the long haired, snake-like man ordered behind the newspaper he was reading. He smirked and let out a satisfied chuckle as he read the headline for that morning: **COCAINE LORD MURDER STILL UNSOLVED**.

"Kabuto, Suigetsu, do you care to finally tell me what last night's phone call was all about?" Orochimaru asked as the two young men entered and sat down. He folded his newspaper over after circling the headline with a red pen.

"Last night, Suigetsu went to a party in Suna. Gaara-san's siblings—Temari and Kankuro—were holding it in a warehouse."

"Kabuto, is there a point to all of this?"

Kabuto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, if you'll let me get there, Orochimaru-_sama_. Suigetsu, tell him what you told me."

The light haired nineteen year old nodded and turned to his boss. "Well, I was walking to the bar to get another beer, when I saw someone rather familiar…"

_Temari's Party_

_1:45 a.m._

_Suigetsu stumbled through the crowd of dancers as he made his way to the bar, licking his parched lips and wiping the sweat from his brow. He'd almost made it there, when heard a faint "Sasuke-kun."_

_Glancing around, the teenager found no evidence of Orochimaru's future apprentice. He scratched his the back of his head and was about to continue to his previous destination when he once again heard the voice._

"_Sasuke-kun, I'm thirsty. Let's something to drink and sit down."_

"_Aa."_

_This time, Suigetsu was positive it was Sasuke. If the one word response hadn't been enough, the fact that a gorgeous girl was dancing very closely to him proved it. The pair went over to the bar, grabbed a whole bottle of vodka, and then walked—hand in hand—to one of the chill rooms._

_Suigetsu tried to follow them, when he walked into something hard and pointy. He looked down just to see a CD rack topple over._

"_Shit," he muttered. In attempt to regain his balance, he grabbed for the nearest object—a speaker. However, the speaker wasn't as stable as Suigetsu had expected and it too fell over, crashing to the ground. His foot got caught in a few cords and those too got unplugged and tangled._

"_What the fuck!" the DJ yelled, running over to him. "What the hell is your problem, you moron!"_

_Suigetsu ignored the man, searching for that head of light pink hair. Unfortunately she was no where to be found and he didn't want Sasuke to know he was there. Just as Kankuro was about to make his way over, Suigetsu raced out of the nearest emergency exit and called Kabuto._

Orochimaru leaned forward so his elbows were resting on his desk and his fingertips were touching. "So, is this what you meant when you said you had some business to attend to and not to worry if I heard any police sirens?"

Kabuto smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Let's just say that Suigetsu and I figured out a sure-fire way to get our precious Sasuke-kun back for good."

* * *

"Thanks so much for bailing me out, Ino-chan. You seriously saved me from being grounded until I was thirty-five," Sakura said with a smile as Tenten handed her a cup of tea.

"No prob, girl. Besides, you'd do the same for me. And you should thank Hinata-chan too; luckily she got in a fight with her father last night."

Hinata laughed. "It was the least I could do, besides, aren't you always saying to make the best out of any situation? Well there you go—I get in a fight with Tou-san, Sakura gets an alibi."

The girls laughed as they sat down at Tenten's kitchen table. Tenten nibbled on a freshly baked cookie Ino brought when said blonde turned to Sakura.

"So, tell us everything that happened."

With a light blush, the rosette haired girl told the night's events from start to finish, leaving nothing out, as she knew her friends would kill her if she did. She gave great detail on the party and while the girls were surprised she'd gotten drunk and threw up, they were glad she was with someone they could trust so nothing worse than getting sick happened.

Sakura was sure her face was a crimson red as she talked about her and Sasuke's make out fest. Ino stared at her dreamily as she described the way Sasuke touched her, Tenten was trying to hold a smile back when she talked about Sasuke's amazing kisses, and Hinata looked like she was going to faint as Sakura talked about his beautiful body.

"So, how exactly how far did you go?" Ino asked once her friend had finished. Sakura's eyes grew as large as soup bowls and Tenten gasped so hard she chocked on her cookie.

"U-um what d-do you m-mean?"

Ino arched a brow and leaned in. "You know what I mean _Billboard Brow_," she flicked Sakura's forehead, "How. Far. Did. You. Go?"

Sakura gulped. "W-w-well…"

The gasped loudly. "Did you go _all the way_ with him?" she whispered loudly.

"No!" Sakura shouted, throwing a cookie at her best friend. "Kami no! What kind of girl do you think I am, Ino-pig?"

Ino shrugged. "I dunno, I mean you are becoming more of a bad-ass, I just thought…"

"Well you thought wrong," Sakura insisted. "I would never do that on a first date, not to mention a drunken one."

"So then, how far _did_ you go?" Tenten asked with a smirk. Sakura gulped again as all three girls leaned in closer.

"U-um…"

"You kissed?"

"Hai…"

"Tongue?"

"H-hai…"

"So you made out…"

Sakura nervously cleared her throat. "H-hai."

"Any further?"

When Sakura lowered her eyes to her lap, her three companions gasped. She glanced up nervously, feeling even more—if possible—heat flood her face as Ino and Tenten grinned at her.

"Wait, so what did you do?" Hinata asked quietly, a blush growing on her cheeks as well.

"Well, remember what Neji did to Tenten-chan after their date at the fair?" Ino asked, giving a certain hand gesture to more bluntly explain to Hinata what Sakura—or rather _Sasuke_ did.

Hinata frowned a bit. "So does that mean that I'm the only one who hasn't been… you know…?"

Ino smiled, "Don't even worry, Hina-chan. Any day now Naruto's gonna jump you—"

"Ino-chan! D-Don't even say that!"

Sakura laughed as Ino continued to poke fun at the shy girl. They stopped when Tenten turned to Sakura.

"So, is he your boyfriend now?"

Sakura bit her lip. "I… I'm not really sure."

"How could you _not _be? What did he say this morning?" Ino asked.

"W-well, we didn't really have a chance to talk much because of my tou-san…"

"So, he didn't say anything about what happened between you two?"

"N-no…"

"What an ass!"

"Calm down, Ino," Tenten said. "I'm sure he would've said something if he had the time. He probably will call you any minute and explain."

"Yeah, I bet he'll ask you out again tonight!" Ino shouted. As the three began to decide what Sakura and Sasuke should do for their next date, Sakura sipped her tea silently.

_I _hope_ it actually meant something to him…_ she thought to herself. _I don't know what I'll do if I find out it was just a hook up to him…_

* * *

Sakura glanced up at the clock for the umpteenth time with a heavy sigh. It was four o'clock and Sasuke had yet to call, or contact her at all.

**He's probably busy working out or something. Or wants to give you space? Maybe he's fighting off some guy who wants to steal you from him! **Inner Sakura suggested.

_Probably not. He probably forgot or something…_

**I bet he's just trying to come up with the perfect thing to say!**

_No, this is Sasuke-kun we're talking about. I bet he's trying to figure out the easiest way to let me down easy._

Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, interrupting her melancholy thoughts. Sakura glanced at the ID screen.

"Naruto? What does he want? He never calls…" She shrugged and opened her phone.

"Naruto? What's up?"

"_Sakura-chan, something's happened…"_

"What is it? Is something wrong with Hinata-chan?"

"_No, it's nothing like that. It's…"_

"What?"

"_Well, it's Sasuke."_

She blushed and sat up straighter. "What about him?"

"_Sakura-chan, Sasuke's been arrested."_

---

* * *

**A/N: **Hehe! Cliff hanger! I'm so evil.

Again, SO sorry for the long update. Luckily, this is my last week of school before winter break, so then I'll have PLENTY of time to write! Hooray!

(Oh, and sorry for the absolute SUCKY-NESS of this chapter… I'm not feeling well, so you'll have to excuse me.)


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